1156 Report of State Geologist. 



there was a marvelous decrease in numbers, more noticeable than the 

 absence of the Bluebird. In the depths of the northern forests it 

 finds its voice, lost there the year before, of which we of more southern 

 latitudes know nothing. Neither Audubon nor Wilson seem to have 

 known of its song, but such gifted interpreters as Dr. Coues and Mr. 

 John Burroughs have heard it sing and brought to us their concep- 

 tions of its efforts, fresh from the cool north woods, written as with 

 the flowing of inspiration from the point of the pen. In Mr. Bur- 

 roughs' "Wake Robin," we find these words: "Ever since I entered 

 the woods, even while listening to the lesser songsters or contemplat- 

 ing the silent forms about me, a strain has reached my ears irom out of 

 the depths of the forest that to me is the finest sound in nature — the 

 song of the Hermit Thrush. 



"I often hear him thus a long way off, sometimes over a quarter of 

 a mile away, when only the stronger and more perfect parts of his 

 music reach me; and through the chorus of Wrens and Warblers I 

 detect this sound, rising pure and serene, as if a spirit from some 

 remote height were slowly chanting a divine accompaniment. This 

 song appeals to the sentiment of the beautiful in me, and suggests a 

 serene religious beatitude as no other sound in nature does. It is, 

 perhaps, more of an evening than a morning hymn, though I hear 

 it at all hours of the day. It is very simple and I can hardly tell the 

 secret of its charm. '0 spheral, spheral!' he seems to say; "^0 holy, 

 holy! clear away, clear away! clear up, clear up!' interspersed with 

 the finest trills and the most delicate preludes. It is not a proud, 

 gorgeous strain, like the Tanager's or the Grosbeak's; suggests no pas- 

 sion or emotion — nothing personal — but seems to be the voice of that 

 calm, sweet solemnity one attains to in his best moments. It realizes 

 a peace and a deep, solemn joy that only the finest soul may know. 

 A few nights ago I ascended a mountain to see the world by moon- 

 light, and when near the summit, the Hermit commenced his evening 

 hymn a few rods from me. Listening to this strain on the lone moun- 

 tain, with the full moon just rounded from the horizon, the pomp 

 of your cities and the pride of your civilization seemed trivial and 

 cheap." 



The greater part of their food is obtained from the ground. Prof. 

 H. K. Kjng examined nine specimens. One had eaten twenty ants: 

 three, a caterpillar each; two, three grasshoppers; six, six beetles; one. 

 a wire-worm; one had eaten wild grapes, and one berries of the Indian 

 turnip (Geol. of Wis., p. 475). Prof. S. A. Forbes examined twenty- 

 one specimens." Eighty-four per cent, of their food was insects; four 

 ]jer cent, spiders, and twelve per cent, thousand-legs. The most of 



