FIVE DAYS ON MOUNT MANSFIELD. 97 



cate, insectivorous race who has the hardi- 

 hood to spend the winter sparingly, but 

 with something like regularity within the 

 limits of New England. He has a genius for 

 adapting himself to circumstances ; picking 

 up his daily food in the depths of a moun- 

 tain forest or off the panes of a dwelling- 

 house, and wintering, as may suit his fancy 

 or convenience, in the West Indies or along 

 the sea-coast of Massachusetts. 



One advantage of a sojourn at the summit 

 of any of our wooded New England moun- 

 tains is the easy access thus afforded to the 

 upper forest. While I was hereupon Mount 

 Mansfield I spent some happy hours almost 

 every day in sauntering down the road for 

 a mile or two, looking and listening. Just 

 after leaving the house it was possible to 

 hear three kinds of thrushes singing at once, 

 gray -cheeks, olive -backs, and hermits. 

 Of the three the hermit is beyond compar- 

 ison the finest singer, both as to voice and 

 tune. His song, given always in three de- 

 tached measures, each higher than the one 

 before it, is distinguished by an exquisite 

 liquidity, the presence of d and 7, I should 

 say, as contrasted with the inferior t sound 



