64 BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 



great because they are faultless. It is enough for me that 

 his mellow notes, heard at the earliest flush of dawn, in 

 the busy hour of noon, or in the stillness of evening, come 

 to the ear in a stream of unqualified melody, as if he had 

 learned to sing from the beautiful Dryad who taught the 

 Lark and the Nightingale. The Robin is surpassed by 

 some other birds in certain qualities of song. The Mock- 

 ing-Bird has more " power," the Red Thrush more vari- 

 ety, the Bobolink more animation ; but there is no bird 

 that has fewer faults than the Robin, or that would be 

 more esteemed as a constant companion, a vocalist for 

 all hours, whose strains never tire and never offend. 



There are thousands who admire the Mocking-Bird, 

 because, after pouring forth a long-continued medley of 

 disagreeable and ridiculous sounds, or a series of two or 

 three notes, repeated more than a hundred times in unin- 

 terrupted and monotonous succession, he concludes with 

 a single delightfully modulated strain. He often brings 

 his tiresome extravaganzas to a magnificent climax of 

 melody, and as often concludes an inimitable chant with 

 a most contemptible bathos. But the notes of the Robin 

 are all melodious, all delightful, loud without vociferation, 

 mellow without monotony, fervent without ecstasy, and 

 combining more of sweetness of tone, plaintiveness, cheer- 

 fulness, and propriety of utterance than the notes of any 

 other bird. 



The Robin is the Philomel of morning twilight in New 

 England and in all the northeastern States of this conti- 

 nent. If his sweet notes were wanting, the mornings 

 would be like a landscape without the rose, or a summer- 

 evening sky without tints. He is the chief performer in 

 the delightful anthem that welcomes the rising day. Of 

 others the best are but accompaniments of more or less 

 importance. Remove the Robin from this woodland or- 

 chestra, and it would be left without a soprano. Over all 



