190 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



nigftt, just as Ihe cock crows. I have heard the hair 

 bird, and the note of the king-bird ; and the ruffed 

 grouse frequently drums at night. 



At the first faint signs of day, a wood-thrush sang 

 a few rods below us. Then after a little delay, as 

 the gray light began to grow around, thrushes broke 

 out in full song in all parts of the woods. I thought 

 I had never before heard them sing so sweetly. Such 

 a leisurely, golden chant ! — it consoled us for all we 

 had undergone. It was the first thing in order, — 

 the worms were safe till after this morning chorus. 

 I judged that the birds roosted but a few feet from 

 the ground. In fact, a bird in all cases roosts where 

 it builds, and the wood-thrush occupies, as it were, 

 the first story of the woods. 



There is something singular about the distribution 

 of the wood-thrushes. At an earlier stage of my ob- 

 servations I should have been much surprised at find- 

 ing it in these woods. Indeed, I had stated in print 

 on two occasions that the wood-thrush was not found 

 in the hi<rher lands of the Catskills, but that the her- 

 rait-thrush and the veery, or Wilson's thrush, were 

 common. It turns out that this statement is only 

 half true. The wood-thrush is found also, but is 

 mu(h more rare and secluded in its habits than either 

 of the others, being seen only during the breeding 

 •eason on remote mountains, and then only on their 

 )astern and southern slopes. I have never yet in 

 ihis region found the bird spending the season in thfl 

 near and familiar woods, which is directly contrary 



