FAMILY Turdice. 
feathers on sides of the throat; but round in the centre 
of feathers on the breast; they do not extend as far 
down over the under parts as they do upon the Wood 
Thrush; under parts white with a slight suffusion of 
buff. Female similarly marked. Nest on the ground; 
it is built of moss, coarse grasses, and leaves, and iined 
with rootlets and pine needles. Egg pale green-blue. 
This bird is common throughout eastern North America; 
it breeds from the northern United States northward, 
and southward in the higher Alleghanies to Pennsyl- 
vania; it winters from southern Illinois and New Jersey 
to the Gulf States. 
The song of the Hermit Thrush is the grand climax of 
all bird music; it is unquestionably so far removed from 
all the rest of the wild-wood singers’ accomplishments 
that vaunted comparisons are invidious and wholly out 
of place. Still, it is necessary to show the nature of this 
superb songster’s pre-eminence, and that can only be done 
by comparing his style with that of other birds. Ac- 
cording to Barrington’s estimate of the comparative 
merits of English song-birds the Nightingale (Philomela 
luscinia) scores the highest mark in mellowness of tone 
and depth of expression; in compass of voice and facility 
of execution he considers the bird without a rival on the 
other side of the water. But Barrington did not know 
the Hermit Thrush, and it is doubtful, if he did, whether 
British prejudice would allow him to remove the Night- 
ingale from the niche of fame and put in its place an- 
American bird unknown to the poets. For think what 
that would mean! those who have sung the praises of the 
Nightingale are many and famous—Von Der Vogelweide, 
Petrarch, Gil Vicente, Shakespeare, Milton, Drummond, 
Cowper, Coleridge, Byron, Heine, Shelley, Keats, Long. 
fellow, Arnold, Mulock, and Christina G. Rossetti. 
What a list it is! And shall the Hermit Thrush reach 
fame through the medium of greater minds than these ? 
Note the beauty of this vivid pen-picture by Matthew 
Arnold: 
** Hark! ah, the Nightingale— 
The tawny-throated! 
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