92 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



leaves, lined with fine rootlets, pine needles, etc. 

 Last year I found two nests outside the woods, 

 one in a low bank by the roadside and only a 

 few feet from the wheeltrack; the other in a tuft 

 of coarse grass in a pasture, but in both cases 

 only a short distance from the edge of thick 

 woods. The four or five eggs are pale green or 

 light blue in color. The Hermit continues to 

 sing well toward the end of August, when most 

 birds are silent. 



The Wilson Thrush, or Veery. In the thick 

 underbrush of low swampy lands, in tangles 

 on the banks of streams and ponds, and in 

 thick shrubbery in the parks, you will hear in 

 May the song of the Veery, another celebrated 

 member of this talented group. Some writers 

 have placed this Thrush even above the Hermit 

 as a singer, but for myself I have never been able 

 to put so high an estimate on his performance. 

 He, too, is a regular summer resident about our 

 homestead, but he has never aroused or in- 

 spired me as has his distinguished cousin. It 

 seems very probable that on my part there is 

 some lack of appreciation of a bird that has 

 inspired from the pen of Dr. Van Dyke this 

 beautiful tribute: 



"The moonbeams over Arno's Vale in silver flood were pouring, 

 When first I heard the Nightingale a long-lost love deploring. 

 So passionate, so full of pain, it sounded strange and eerie; 

 I longed to hear a simpler strain, — the wood-notes of the Veery. 



"But far away and far away, the tawny Thrush is singing; 

 New England woods, at close of day, with that clear chant are ring- 

 ing; 

 And when my light of life is low, and heart and flesh are weary, 

 I fain would hear before I go, the wood-notes of the Veery." 



