42 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



of a wood thrush just over my head. This was followed 

 by nearly the same sjdlables, fuller and on a lower key. 

 The song was immediately taken up by another thrush 

 across the creek, and still a third further north, but in 

 the Lawn. It was a glorious concert and in harmony 

 with the peaceful surroundings. But how came these 

 birds to be in this Lawn so far away from any extended 

 woods, and three of them together? Had the}^ selected 

 that soft June day for an excursion? There would 

 seem to have been method in the arrangement, as sel- 

 dom more than one is heard singing in so open a place, 

 and so far from any considerable piece of woods. 



The veeries [Turdus fticescens) are not so equally dis- 

 tributed as the wood thrushes. They are more retiring, 

 and seek low, rather than the high, wooded lands, prob- 

 ably because insects are more plentiful in such localities. 

 Unlike others of the family, they are somewhat grega- 

 rious in their summer haunts. You will seldom find 

 them singly, or even in pairs, but if there be one, several 

 will be in the same locality. 



The song of one is nearly always taken up by another 

 in the neighborhood, and sometimes a dozen or more 

 will join in the concert — not in chorus, but each waiting 

 till the other has finished before beginning his solo. 

 The song of the veery, or Wilson's thrush, although 

 lacking the pure, flute-hke notes of the wood thrush, is 

 a continuous strain, fervid, ecstatic, very sweet, and of 

 great power. There is a touch of wild weirdness not 

 heard in any other strain. These few vibrating reed- 

 like notes are repeated, and sometimes seemingly rolled 



