A Book on Birds 



Even when he sees you, and, alarmed by 

 the crackling of a twig or some sudden 

 and abrupt move you make as you draw 

 closer, flies off to a new perch, he is likely 

 to pick one but a short distance away and 

 keep on singing as he goes, unwilling to 

 check but for the moment or two of his 

 flight the lovely tide of melody within him. 



Moreover, the advent of the Thrasher is 

 notable also for other reasons beside the 

 pleasure there is in it of itself. It is a sure 

 sign that things long delayed have finally 

 come to pass; that violets may be looked 

 for among the dead swamp grass and 

 briars; that the delicate anemone, some of 

 it pale pink and some pearl white, is 

 abloom in the leafy mold beneath the oak 

 trees, and the spring beauty farther on 

 above the dewy moss along the banks of the 

 stream; and, last, but not least, that the 

 best and most prolific time for the discovery 

 and observation of birds in this part of the 

 country is immediately at hand. 



For, though it will seem otherwise to the 

 uninitiated, the month of June, when the 



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