The Wood Thrush 13 



He is about two inches shorter than the robin. 

 Above, his feathers are a rich cinnamon brown, 

 brightest on his head and shoulders and shading 

 into olive brown on his tail. His white throat 

 and breast and sides are heavily marked with 

 heart-shaped marks of very dark brown. He 

 has a white eye ring. 



''Here am /" come his three clear, bell-like 

 notes of self-introduction. The quality of his 

 music is delicious, rich, penetrative, pure and 

 vibrating like notes struck upon a harp. If 

 you don't already know this most neighbourly 

 of the thrushes — as he is also the largest and 

 brightest and most heavily spotted of them all — 

 you will presently become acquainted with one 

 of the finest songsters in America. Wait until 

 evening when he sings at his best. Nolee-a-e-o- 

 lee-nolee-ae alee -lee! peals his song from the trees. 

 Love alone inspires his finest strains ; but even 

 in July, when bird music is quite inferior to that 

 of May and June, he is still in good voice. A 

 song so exquisite proves that the thrush comes 

 near to being a bird angel, very high in the scale 

 of development, and far, far beyond such low 

 creatures as ducks and chickens. 



Pit-pit- pit you may hear sharply, excitedly 

 jerked out of some bird's throat, and you wonder 

 if a note so disagreeable can really come from the 

 wonderful songster on the branch above your 

 head. By sharply striking two small stones 



