384 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



veery; Wilson's thrush 



June 19, 1853. In the middle of the path to Wharf 

 Rock at Flint's Pond, the nest of a Wilson's thrush, 

 five or six inches high, between the green stems of three 

 or four golden-rods, made of dried grass or fibres of 

 bark, with dry oak leaves attached loosely, making the 

 whole nine or ten inches wide, to deceive the eye. Two 

 blue eggs. Like an accidental heap. Who taught it to 

 do thus? 



HERMIT THRUSH ^ 



June, 15, 1851. I sit in the shade of the pines to hear 

 a wood thrush at noon. The ground smells of dry leaves ; 

 the heat is oppressive. The bird begins on a low strain, 

 i. e. it first delivers a strain on a lower key, then a 

 moment after another a little higher, then another still 

 varied from the others, — no two successive strains 

 alike, but either ascending or descending.^ He confines 

 himself to his few notes, in 'which he is unrivalled, as 

 if his kind had learned this and no more anciently. 



April 30, 1852. I hear a wood thrush ^ here, with a 

 fine metallic ring to his note. This sound most ade- 

 quately expresses the immortal beauty and wildness of 

 the woods. I go in search of him. He sounds no nearer. 



^ [See note to wood thrush, p. 377. The hermit thrush was a rare 

 bird to Thoreau. He detected it occasionally in spring and autumn, but 

 he seems never to have suspected that it was a regular summer resident 

 in Concord and that he had often listened to its song.] 



^ [The song described seems to be that of the hermit thrush.] 

 ' [Thoreau's April and very early May wood thrushes were all 

 doubtless hermit thrushes.] 



