98 BIRDS AND POETS 
the air transmits sounds, and what an awakening, 
prophetic character all sounds have! ‘The distant 
barking of a dog, or the lowing of a cow, or the crow- 
ing of a cock, seems from out the heart of Nature, 
and to be a call to come forth. The great sun ap- 
pears to have been reburnished, and there is some- 
thing in his first glance above the eastern hills, and 
the way his eye-beams dart right and left and smite 
the rugged mountains into gold, that quickens the 
pulse and inspires the heart. 
Across the fields in the early morning I hear some 
of the rare April birds, — the chewink and the brown 
thrasher. The robin, bluebird, song sparrow, phcebe- 
bird, etc., come in March; but these two ground- 
birds are seldom heard till toward the last of April. 
The ground-birds are all tree-singers or air-singers 3 
they must have an elevated stage to speak from. 
Our long-tailed thrush, or thrasher, like its con- 
geners the catbird and mockingbird, delights in a 
high branch of some solitary tree, whence it will 
pour out its rich and intricate warble for an hour 
together. This bird is the great American chipper. 
There is no other bird that I know of that can chip 
with such emphasis and military decision as this yel- 
low-eyed songster. It is like the click of a giant 
gun-lock. Why is the thrasher so stealthy? It 
always seems to be going about on tiptoe. I never 
knew it to steal anything, and yet it skulks and 
hides like a fugitive from justice. One never sees 
it flying aloft in the air and traversing the world 
openly, like most birds, but it darts along fences and 
