THE THRUSH. 177 



The song of the thrush is unquestionably the finest of any of our permanent wood 

 songs, and superior in jDower and clearness, though not in varictj', to that of any of the 

 warblers. But the very abundance of it, perhaps, makes it less prized than it should be. 

 The nightingale, heard in the depth of groves, and during the soft and balmy stillness 

 of a summer's night, may have in it more of romance ; but there is a bold, natural, and 

 free feeling of rustic vigour, enjojnnent, and endurance about the thrush which gives it 

 a more true and hearty interest in all parts of the country, than can be possessed by any 

 mere bird of passage, whatever may be its charms while it stays. The thrush is especially 

 one of the birds of plenty : its blithe and varied song is never heard amid desolation ; 

 and if you hear a thrush, you have not far to go before you conic to a human dwellino-. 



]\[rs. Charlotte Smith has thus addressed this bird : — 



Oh ! herald of the spring ! while vet 

 Xo hare-bell scents the woodland land. 

 Nor stanvort fair, nor violet. 

 Braves the bleak gust, and driving rain ; 

 'Tis thine, as thi'ough the copses rude 

 Some pensive wanderer sighs along. 

 To soothe him with thy cheerful song. 

 And tell of hojjc and fortitude. 



For thee, then, may the hawthorn bush, 

 The elder, and the spindle tree, 

 With all their various berries blush, 

 And the blue sloe abound for thee ! 

 For thee the coral holly glow, 

 Its armed an 1 glos.sy leaves among; 

 And many a branched oak be hung 

 With the pellucid mistletoe ! 



Still may thv nest, with lichen lined, 

 Be hidden fi-om the invading jay ; 

 Nor truant boy its covert find. 

 To bear thy callow young away. 

 So thou, precursor still of good, 

 Oh ' herald of approaching spring ! 

 Shalt to the pensive wanderer sing. 

 Thy song of hope and fortitude ! 



THE WOOD-THRUSH.* 



The wood-thrush, or wood-robin of America, maj- be found in the entire continent, 

 from Hudson's Bay to the peninsula of Florida, and it is regarded with the deep interest 

 which the nightingale or song-thrush of England receives. AYherever the wood-thrush 

 may be, he soon gives delightful indications of his presence ; for with the return of the 

 morning he moimts the topmost branch of some tall tree, and though his song is com- 

 posed of but few notes, they are so clear, distinct, and mellow, that it is impossible to 

 hear them without delight, as they gradually rise in strength and then fall awaj' in 

 gentle cadence, becoming at length so lov.' as to be scarcely audible. The f)relude, or 

 symphonj-, to its song resembles, it is said, " the double-tonguing of a German flute, and 

 sometimes the tinkling of a small bell ; the whole song consists of five or six parts, 

 the last note of each of which is in such a tone as to leave the conclusion evidently 

 suspended ; the finale is finely managed, and with such charming effect as to soothe and 

 tranquillise the mind, and to seem sweeter and mellower at each successive repetition. 

 Rival songsters, of the same species, challenge each other from different parts of the 



* Turdus Mustelinus. — Gmeliii. 



