FIVE DAYS ON MOUNT MANSFIELD. 97 
cate, insectivorous race who has the hardi- 
hood to spend the winter — sparingly, but 
with something like regularity — within the 
limits of New England. He has a genius for 
adapting himself to circumstances; picking 
up his daily food in the depths of a moun- 
tain forest or off the panes of a dwelling- 
house, and wintering, as may suit his faney 
or convenience, in the West Indies or along 
the sea-coast of Massachusetts. 
One advantage of a sojourn at the summit 
of any of our wooded New England moun- 
tains is the easy access thus afforded to the 
upper forest. While I was here upon Mount 
Mansfield I spent some happy hours almost 
every day in sauntering down the road for 
a mile or two, looking and listening. Just 
after leaving the house it was possible to 
hear three kinds of thrushes singing at once, 
— gray - cheeks, olive - backs, and hermits. 
Of the three the hermit is beyond compar- 
ison the finest singer, both as to voice and 
tune. His song, given always in three de- 
tached measures, each higher than the one 
before it, is distinguished by an exquisite 
liquidity, the presence of d and /, I should 
say, as contrasted with the inferior ¢ sound 
