26 THE BIRD OF SOLITUDE. 



a strange bird away. One cannot imagine a 

 harsh sound out of that " most musical " throat. 

 And aside from fancy, as a simple matter of 

 fact, I have never noticed the smallest sign of 

 temper or harshness. Even the cries of distress 

 have peculiar richness of tone. 



Having for some years lovingly studied the 

 ways of this little creature, and wishing to ob- 

 serve him more closely, I desired to add a wood 

 thrush to the birds which fly about my house. 

 To this end I made a tour of the bird stores of 

 New York, and thus I learned, from disgusted 

 dealers, another interesting characteristic of the 

 high-spirited fellow. So fond is he of liberty 

 that he will not sing in confinement. His Euro- 

 pean cousin, the song thrush (or throstle of Eng- 

 land), unfortunately for his freedom, reconciles 

 himself more easily to captivity, and is to be 

 found in all shops. My answers were a disap- 

 pointing monotony : " The American thrush is 

 no good ; he will not sing," — an opinion, by the 

 way, in which these practical gentry differ from 

 Audubon, who is quoted as saying that they 

 sing nearly as well in confinement as when free. 

 This is hard to believe. The thrush's song 

 seems more than that of any other bird to em- 

 body the spirit of freedom, and to come from 

 an untroubled soul. 



In my search, however, I chanced upon an- 



