A Book on Birds 



(excepting always his diminutive size and 

 peculiar ^^ spiral'' music) are his narrow 

 beak and short, straight tail-feathers, tilted 

 upward at an angle that grows sharper as 

 you approach more closely to his nest. 



No bird can be studied with less trouble 

 than he, for he will allow you to get as 

 near to him as any I know. And no 

 opportunity for meeting him on every hand 

 could possibly be better than that still 

 offered by this overgrown tract near my 

 own town. 



Next to the Wrens in this same locality 

 I found the Brown Thrasher the most 

 interesting. 



In the morning before eight o'clock, once 

 I had reached the bushes and saplings, 

 I generally heard his music coming from 

 three or four directions at once. 



And I never failed to stop and listen a 

 little in enrapt silence. 



For, as we have said in the preceding 

 chapter, it is music well worth while — 

 though only those who hear it in its first 

 freshness in the spring know it to the full. 



[76] 



