THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



she looked, running over the ground, now in shade, 

 now in sunshine, searching for the leaves that were 

 just to her fancy! Sometimes she would seize two 

 or more and with a quick, soft flight bear them to 

 the fork of the little maple sapling. Every five or six 

 minutes during her absence, the male would come 

 and inspect her work. He would look it over, arrange 

 a leaf or two with his beak, and then go his way. 

 Twice he sat down in the nest and worked his feet 

 and pressed it with his breast, as if shaping it. When 

 the female found him there on her return, he quickly 

 got out of her way. 



But he brought no material, he did no needful 

 thing, he was a bird of leisure. The female did all 

 the drudgery, and with what an air of grace and ease 

 she did it ! So soft of wing, so trim of form, so pretty 

 of pose, and so gentle in every movement! It was 

 evidently no drudgery to her; the material was 

 handy, and the task one of love. All the behavior of 

 the wood thrush affects one like music; it is melody 

 to the eye as the song is to the ear; it is visible har- 

 mony. This bird cannot do an ungraceful thing. It 

 has the bearing of a bird of fine breeding. Its cousin 

 the robin is much more masculine and plebeian, 

 harsher in voice, and ruder in manners. The wood 

 thrush is urban and suggests sylvan halls and courtly 

 companions. Softness, gentleness, composure, char- 

 acterize every movement. In only a few instances 

 among our birds does the male assist in nest-building. 



