pe-a

Updated: June 27, 2025

Then one flies up into a bush and sings in a high key. What does he say for the song of two short bars surely has words? One person understands it one way, and thinks the bird says 'all-day whittling, whittling, whittling! Some one else hears 'pe-a peabody peabody peabody! While to me the White-throat always says 'I work cleverly, cleverly, cleverly poòr mè cleverly, cleverly, cleverly!"

Elliott Coues - Citizen Bird : Scenes from Bird-Life in Plain English for Beginners