492 THE HERMIT THRUSH. 



in a tone of indescribable melodiousness, and continues 

 in a shake which gradually softens into silence, thus giving 

 a most pleasing diminuendo. Put into syllables, it is well 

 represented by Mr. Burrough's phrase, ^' O-o-o-o, holy-holy- 

 holy-holy :'' and I sometimes thought I heard it say, O-o-o-o, 

 seraph-so-aph-seraph-seraph. Again I could discover no sug- 

 gestion of articulate language, but only that soul-language 

 of pure melody, which speaks directly to the heart without 

 the ruder incumbrance of speech. With short pauses, this 

 diminuendo is repeated any number of times, but always 

 on a different key and with a different modulation. Now it 

 is on the main chords, now on the intermediates, and now 

 on the most delicately chosen and inspiring chromatics. 

 When pitched high, the shake is through a shorter interval, 

 and in a weaker tone The lower-toned modulations are 

 always the sweetest. Sometimes the tones are so soft as 

 to sound far away, though the bird is quite near; and again 

 the notes are very penetrating, and may be heard for quite 

 a distance, especially when aided by the enchanting echoes of 

 tall, dense forests. The tone of the melody is neither of flute, 

 nor hautboy nor vox-humana, but something of inimitable 

 sweetness, and never heard away from the fragrant arcades 

 of the forest. "Spiritual serenity," or a refined, poetic, 

 religious devotion, is indeed the sentiment of the song. He 

 whose troubled spirit cannot be soothed or comforted, or 

 whose religious feelings cannot be awakened by this song, in 

 twilight, must lack the full sense of hearing, or that inner 

 sense of the soul which catches nature's most significant 

 voices. It is a voice which should always direct us heaven- 

 ward. 



Notwithstanding its retiring habits and its celestial song, 

 this bird is decidedly lowly and humble in its nidification. 

 The nest is not placed in a bush or small tree, as is the case 



