38 THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS. 



orchard adjoining a wood, I heard one that 

 so obviously and unmistakably surpassed all 

 his rivals, that my companion, though slow 

 to notice such things, remarked it wonder- 

 ingly; and with one accord we paused to 

 listen to so rare a performer. It was not 

 different in quality so much as in quantity. 

 Such a flood of it! Such copiousness! 

 Such long, trilling, accelerating preludes ! 

 Such sudden, ecstatic overtures would have 

 intoxicated the dullest ear. He was really 

 without a compeer a master-artist. Twice 

 afterward I was conscious of having heard 

 the same bird. 



The wood-thrush is the handsomest species 

 of this family. In grace and elegance of 

 manner he has no equal. Such a gentle, 

 high-bred air, and such inimitable ease and 

 composure in his flight and movement ! He 

 is a poet in very word and deed. His car- 

 riage is music to the eye. His performance 

 of the commonest act, as catching a beetle, 

 or picking a worm from the mud, pleases 

 like a stroke of wit or eloquence. Was he 

 a prince in the olden time, and do the regal 

 grace and mien still adhere to him in his 

 transformation ? What a finely proportioned 

 form ! How plain, yet rich his color, the 



