THE WOOD THRUSH. 



had been set upon his head, but often comes forward — not too close — with a 

 pit of inquiry and greeting. 



The Wood Thrush spends considerable time on the ground looking for 

 beetles and worms, but he is read}' at a moment's notice to flutter up on a 

 log or low branch, and stand there surveying 

 you, flirting, or twinkling, the wings occa- 

 sionally to indicate his perfect readiness for 

 further retreat, or else ruffling and shaking 

 his feathers as tho to shake off the memory 

 of the mold. A false step now and he may 

 disappear irrevocably down some forest isle; 

 a quiet glance of admiration serves to reas- 

 sure him, and he may resume his feeding. 



There is an air of gentleness and good 

 breeding about the bird, which goes a long- 

 way to disarm a wanton enemy, and one stu- 

 diously hostile there could not be. Brighter 

 than the other Thrushes in color, ami marked 

 unmistakably with heavy spots upon breast 

 and sides, the Wood Thrush is further dis- 

 tinguished in a gifted family by its wonder- 

 ful voice. The chanting of the Wood Thrush 

 is one of the choice things in bird music, in 

 the freshness of the undried morning the ''< 

 bird mounts a low limb and takes up a part 

 in the grand anthem of nature, whose com- rms NES t appears near the center of 



rlementary voices may be lost to any ear less 



fine than his. The bird listens to the retreating font-steps of the morning stars. 

 and sings, "Far away — far away." Zephyr stirs the unfolding leaves with 

 his boyish alto and our matchless tenor responds. "Come to me — Here in glee 

 — bide a wee," in cadences of surpassing sweetness. Altho the singer's voice 

 is rich and strong, so that be may be heard at times for half a mile, there are 

 at the same time grace notes and finer passages which onl) a near-by listener 

 can catch. The notes. I am told by musical critics, are. of all bird trite-., the 

 most nearly reducible to ordinary musical notation: but the peculiar timbre of 

 the bird's voice, the rich vibrant quality of the tones, is of course inimitable. 

 Their utterance at morning and evening is something more than a clever musi- 

 cal performance; it is worship. 



