58 IN THE HEMLOCKS. 



eyed fly-catcher, cheerful and happy as the 

 merry whistle of a school-boy. He is one 

 of our most common and widely distributed 

 birds. Approach any forest at any hour of 

 the day, in any kind of weather, from May 

 to August, in any of the Middle or Eastern 

 districts, and the chances are that the first 

 note you hear will be his. Rain or shine, 

 before noon or after, in the deep forest or 

 in the village grove, when it is too hot 

 for the thrushes or too cold and windy for 

 the warblers, it is never out of time or 

 place for this little minstrel to indulge his 

 cheerful strain. In the deep wilds of the 

 Adirondac, where few birds are seen and 

 fewer heard, his note was almost constantly 

 in my ear. Always busy, making it a point 

 never to suspend for one moment his occupa- 

 tion to indulge his musical taste, his lay is 

 that of industry and contentment. There 

 is nothing plaintive or especially musical in 

 his performance, but the sentiment expressed 

 is eminently that of cheerfulness. Indeed, 

 the songs of most birds have some human 

 significance, which, I think, is the source of 

 the delight we take in them. The song of 

 the bobolink to me expresses hilarity; the 

 song-sparrow's, faith ; the bluebird's, love ; 



