Dec. 15, 1882.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



187 



does it hut scanty justice. To my ear it is 

 by far the finest song we hear in these 

 Northern woods, and fiilly deserves the 

 seemingly exaggerated title of " glorious," 

 given it by some modern writers. The 

 Winter Wren is his nearest rival and he 

 startles the listener into admiration by the 

 perfect torrent of sweet harmonies, of 

 brilliant passages and marvellously execu- 

 ted trills, he hiu-ls npon the stillness of the 

 forest solitude in which he delights to 

 roam ; but, beautiful and joyous as his 

 song is, in comparison with the song of 

 the Hermit Thrush it sounds mechanical, 

 and more like an iiir from a music box. 

 The music of the Hermit never startles 

 j'ou : it is in such perfect harmony with the 

 siu'roxuidings it is often passed by unno- 

 ticed, but it steals upon the sense of an ap- 

 preciative listener like the quiet beauty of 

 the sunset. Very few persons have heard 

 him at his best. To accomplish this you 

 must steal up close to his forest sancttiary 

 when the day is done, and listen to the 

 vesper hymn that flows so genth' out upon 

 the hushed air of the gathering twilight. 

 You must be very close to the singer or 

 you will lose the sweetest and most tender 

 and pathetic passages, so low are they ren- 

 dered — in the merest whispers. I cannot, 

 however, agree with Mr. Burroughs that 

 he is more of an evening than a morning- 

 songster, for I have often observed that 

 the birds in any given locality will sing- 

 more frequently and for a longer joeriod in 

 the morning than in the evening. I prefer 

 to hear liim in the evening, for there is a 

 difference : the song in the morning is 

 more sprightly— a musician woidd say 

 "has greater brilliancy of expression" — 

 and lacks the extreme tenderness of the 

 evening song, yet both have much the same 

 notes and the same "hymn-like serenity." 

 The birds fr«iuently render their matinal 

 hymns in concert and the dwellers in a 

 grove will burst out together in one full 

 chonis, forming a grander Te T)enm — more 

 thrilhng — than is voiced by surpliced choir 



within cathedral walls. On one occasion 

 an Indian hunter after listening to one of 

 these choruses for a time said to me, 

 " That makes me feel queer." It was no 

 slight influence moved this red-skinned 

 stoic of the forest to such a speech. The 

 song of the Olive-backed ranks second in 

 composition but he has the sweetest and 

 most mellow voice of the three. The 

 Veery displays the least musical abiUty yet 

 his simple strain is exceedingly pleasant to 

 tiie ear and his beautiful voice exhibits 

 most strongly that peculiar resonant metal- 

 lic tone which is characteristic of the genus. 

 I have not attempted to represent these 

 songs by words or notes, for all such ex- 

 periments as I have seen, appear to me to 

 be failures. Neither the words of Dr. 

 Brewer or Mr. Samuels, nor the syllables 

 used by Mr. Ridgway or Mr. Gentry con- 

 vey to my mind the idea of the songs of 

 the birds that is impres.sed on my memory: 

 and after a patient rehearsal of the notes 

 of Mr. Horsford's score on piano, violin 

 and flute I fail to recognize the melodies 

 he has attempted to write. Perhaps ilr. 

 Horsford will say that, as^ I do not live in 

 " a white pine country," I can know nothing 

 about these Thrushes, and I certainly do 

 not if his article in Forest and Stream* is 

 to be taken as evidence of what is correct. 

 Besides their songs the three species have 

 call notes and two or three minor notes, 

 used chiefly when a mated pair are together. 

 The alarm note of the Olive-backed, which 

 Mr. Minot thinks sounds like " whit," and 

 which he calls "the ordinary note" of the 

 bird, is seldom used except the bird has a 

 nest near the mtruder. I think the sound 

 would be better represented by "kwut" 

 very abruptly and (piickly uttered, with a 

 peculiar emphatic intonation. But the 

 songs and notes of all birds must be heard 

 to be understood and appreciated. — J/. 

 Chamberlain^ St. John, X. Ji. 



"Prof. Horaford'fi writing.-* on our Thnif^heH first appeared 

 in '' Familmr Science" pnl)lishe(i l)y ny. We also engraved 

 the mneic. Other of onr articles appeared in Forest and 

 streavt as original. 



