312 THE GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR. 



Wintering in Florida and the gulf states, Wilson's 

 Thrush breeds from Southern New England and the 

 Middle States to Hudson's Bay, and westward to the Rocky- 

 Mountains. It is abundant in Western New York in sum- 

 mer. I did not find it common in Nova Scotia. 



THE GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR. 



Ke-chee, ke-c/iee, ke-chee, ke-chee, ke-chee^ comes the familiar 

 ditty of the Golden-crowned Accentor {^Seiurus aurocapilliis) 

 for the first time in the year. The notes begin so softly 

 that you might imagine the bird to be some distance away, 

 but as they continue louder and louder, the last one, which 

 is quite loud and shrill, discovers the ventriloquist to be 

 near by. Perched on a lower limb, near the trunk of the 

 tree, he sits motionless as a statue, except when he throws 

 his head up to utter his notes. Then he shakes himself 

 from bill to tail, and by the time he reaches the last note, 

 seems to be exercising every muscle. 



Occasionally between his chants he steps back and forth 

 on the limb and jerks his tail after the manner of his 

 near relative, the Water Thrush. The general effect of his 

 performance is greatly enhanced by the echo so peculiar to 

 the forest when in full foliage; and throughout the sum- 

 mer it is one of the characteristic sounds of our charming 

 woodlands, always to be associated with their coolness and 

 fragrance. 



Excepting the sharp metallic chip, which he gives as he 

 walks in his pretty lark-like manner on the ground in time 

 of nidification, the above describes what was formerly 

 supposed to be the full extent of his musical capacity; but 

 Mr. Burroughs discovered, some years since, that he has a 

 fine warble. He says: '' Mounting by easy flights to the 

 top of the tallest tree, he launches into the air with a sort 



