80 IN THfi HEMLOCKS. 



has a preference for denae woods of beech and maple, 

 moves slowly amid the lower branches and smaller 

 growths, keeping from eight to ten feet from the 

 ground, and repeating now and then his listless, indo- 

 lent strain. His back and crown are dark blue ; his 

 throat and breast, black ; his belly, pure white ; and 

 he has a white spot on each wing. 



Here and there I meet the black and white creep* 

 ng-warbler, whose fine strain reminds me of hair- 

 wire. It is unquestionably the finest bird-song to be 

 heard. Fev insect strains will compare with it in 

 this respect ; ^^ hile it has none of the harsh, brassy 

 character of the latter, being very delicate and tender. 



That sharp, uninterrupted, but still continued war- 

 ble, which, before one has learned to discriminate 

 closely, he is apt to confound with the red-eyed vireo's, 

 is that of the solitary warblii g vireo, — a bird slightly 

 larger, much rarer, and wit! a louder, less cheerful 

 and happy strain. I see hi i hopping along length- 

 wise of the limbs, and note the orange tinge of his 

 breast and sides and the white circle around his eye. 



But the declining sun and the deepening shadows 

 admonish me that this ramble must be brought to a 

 close, even though only the leading characters in this 

 chorus of forty songsters have been described, and 

 >nly a small portion of the venerable old woods ex- 

 plored. In a secluded swampy corner of the old 

 Barkpeeling, where I find the great purple orchis in 

 bloom, and where the foot of man or beast seems 

 never to have trod, I linger long, contemplating the 

 vonderfiil display of lichens and mosses that overrur 



