BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 19 



on every still morning before sunrise during May and 

 June. His continued trilling note is to this warbling 

 band like the octave flute, as heard in a grand concert of 

 artificial instruments. The voices of numbers of his s^^e- 

 cies, which are the first to be heard and the last to become 

 silent in the morning, serve to fill up the pauses in this 

 sylvan anthem like a running accompaniment in certain 

 musical compositions. How little soever the Hair-Bird 

 may be valued as a songster, his voice, I am sure, would 

 be most sadly missed, were it nevermore to be heard 

 charmingly blending with the louder voices of other chor- 

 isters. 



How often, on still sultry nights in summer, wdien hardly 

 a breeze was stirring, and when the humming of the moth 

 might be plainly heard as it glided by my open window, 

 have I been charmed by the note of this little bird, ut- 

 tered trillingly from the branch of a neighboring tree. He 

 seems to be the sentinel whom Nature has appointed to 

 watch for the first gleam of dawn, which he always faith- 

 fully announces before any other bird is awake. Two or 

 three strains from his octave pipe are the signal for a gen- 

 eral awakening of the birds, and one by one they join the 

 song, until the whole air resounds with an harmonious 

 medley of voices. 



The Hair-Bird has a singular habit of sitting on the 

 ground while thus chirping at early dawn ; but I am 

 confident he is perched in a tree during the night. The 

 nest is most frequently placed upon an apple-tree, or 

 upon some tall bush, seldom more than ten feet from the 

 ground. I have found it in the vinery upon the trunk 

 of an elm. It is very neatly constructed of the fibres 

 of roots firmly woven together, and beautifully lined with 

 fine soft hair, wdience his name. It is unsurpassed in neat- 

 ness and beauty by the nest of any other bird. The eggs 

 are four in number, of a pale blue with dark spots. 



