410 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



the habits of the birds, that, if for that reason only, I 

 am willing to omit the gun. 



May 7, 1852. I think that birds vary their notes con- 

 siderably with the seasons. When I hear a bird singing, 

 I cannot think of any words that will imitate it. What 

 word can stand in place of a bird's note ? You would 

 have to bury [ ? ] it, or surround it with a chevaux de 

 frise of accents, and exhaust the art of the musical com- 

 poser besides with your different bars, to represent it, 

 and finally get a bird to sing it, to perform it. It has 

 so little relation to words. The wood thrush ^ says ah- 

 tuUy-tully for one strain. There appear to be one or 

 more little warblers in the woods this morning which 

 are new to the season, about which I am in doubt, myrtle- 

 birds among them. For now, before the leaves, they 

 begin to jaeople the trees in this warm weather. The 

 first wave of summer from the south. 



June 4, 1852. The birds sing at dawn. What sounds 

 to be awakened by ! If only our sleep, our dreams, are 

 such as to harmonize with the song, the warbling, of 

 the birds, ushering in the day ! They appear compara- 

 tively silent an hour or two later. 



June 25, 1852. I observe that young birds are usually 

 of a duller color and more speckled than old ones, as if 

 for their protection in their tender state. They have not 

 yet the markings (and the beauty) which distinguish 

 their species, and which betray it often, but by their 

 colors are merged in the variety of colors of the season. 



July 7, 1852. 4 A. M. — The first really foggy morn- 

 ing. Yet before I rise I hear the song of birds from out 

 1 [The hermit thrush ?J 



