OF NEW ENGLAND. 31 
built upon a roadside, as when in a swamp of alders. The 
Wood Thrushes usually sing from a high branch, whereas they 
find their food on or near the ground; but, wherever they are, 
they generally preserve, except when running, a rather erect 
attitude, observable also in the Robin and the other (typical) 
thrushes. If I have forgotten to speak of other habits, let the 
reader go to the haunts already described, or to cool woods 
on the banks of some rapid-running brook, and there learn 
them. 
(d). In the cool of the morning, or at evening, from the 
time when the sun sets until dusk becomes dark, the Wood 
Thrush, having mounted to a perch so high that his outbursts 
of heavenly music shall not be confined to earth or lost in the 
surrounding shrubbery, pours out such a melody, that he seems 
at every utterance “to be endeavoring to recall his very soul, 
that fled to heaven on the winged notes of his last liquid mel- 
ody.” At other times of the day, if it is cloudy, or if he is in 
dark, cool woods, he sings while he is busied in providing for 
himself or his family, and as he moves through the bushes. 
This song is rarely one continuous strain, but consists of many 
detached variations, a series of liquid, metallic, rich, powerful, 
and expressive notes, which are so exquisite that the all-ab- 
sorbed and unobtrusive musician seldom if ever fails to charm 
whoever hears him. Yet, it ought to be remembered that, 
though some Wood Thrushes can produce such music as per- 
haps no other birds can rival, others of them are greatly infe- 
rior to their fellows. 
The ordinary notes of the Wood Thrush are a mellow chirp, 
more metallic and less melancholy in tone than that of the 
Wilson’s Thrush, a chuck (sometimes combined with it), and a 
simple chip, such as belongs to a large majority of all the birds 
described in this volume. 
All, who wish to have an insight into the charms, which 
attend the study of animated birds, should observe the Wood 
Thrush in his native haunts, and faithfully attend the delightful 
concerts, which he so often repeats in the cooler hours of the 
day, in June, July, and even August. 
