392 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



tcJie tche tche tche tche^ — and then probably it dashed 

 through the birches ; and so they fetch the year about. 

 Just fi'om the South Shore, perchance, it alighted not 

 in the village street, but in this remote birch wood. 

 This sound reminds me of rainy, misty April days in 

 past years. Once or twice before, this afternoon, I 

 thought I heard one and listened, but in vain. 



May 4, 1855. A robin sings when I, in the house, 

 cannot distinguish the earliest dawning from the full 

 moonlight. His song first advertised me of the daybreak, 

 when I thought it was night, as I lay looking out into 

 the full moonlight. I heard a robin begin his strain, 

 and yielded the point to him, believing that he was 

 better acquainted with the springs of the day than I, — 

 with the signs of day. 



June 2, 1855. Mr. Hoar tells me that Deacon Far- 

 rar's son tells him that a white robin has her nest on 

 an apple tree near their house. Her mate is of the 

 usual color. All the family have seen her, but at the 

 last accounts she has not been seen on the nest. 



April 16, 1856. The robins sing with a will now. 

 What a burst of melody ! It gurgles out of all conduits 

 now ; they are choked with it. There is such a tide and 

 rush of song as when a river is straightened between 

 two rocky walls. It seems as if the morning's throat 

 were not large enough to emit all this sound. The robin 

 sings most before six o'clock now. I note where some 

 suddenly cease their song, making a quite remarkable 

 vacuum. 



Feh. 27, 1857. Before I opened the window this cold 

 morning, I heard the peep of a robin, that sound so 



