94 BIRDS OF THE PASTURE AND FOREST. 



notes have a peculiar liquid tone, and sometimes resemble 

 the rapid dropping of water by the single drop into a 

 wooden cistern which is half full. They may be com- 

 pared to the trilling of the Hair-Bird, a kindred species, 

 less rapidly uttered, and upon a lower key. If their 

 notes are not plaintive, as Nuttall considered them, they 

 produce very vividly a sensation of solitude, that tempts 

 you to listen long and patiently, as to a sweet strain in 

 some rude ballad music. 



THE WOOD-SPARROW, 



When the flowers of early summer are gone, and the 

 graceful neottia is seen in the meadows, extending its spi- 

 ral clusters among the nodding grasses ; when the purple 

 orchis is glowing in the wet grounds, and the roadsides 

 are gleaming with the yellow blossoms of the hypericum, 

 the merry voice of the Bobolink has ceased and many 

 other familiar birds have become silent. At this time, 

 if we stroll away from the farm and the orchard into more 

 retired and wooded haunts, we may hear at all hours 

 and at frequent intervals the pensive and melodious 

 notes of the Wood-Sparrow, who sings as if he were de- 

 lighted at being left almost alone to warble and complain 

 to the benevolent deities of the grove. He who in his 

 youth has made frequent visits to these pleasant and sol- 

 itary places, among the thousands of beautiful and sweet- 

 scented flowers that spring up among the various spicy 

 and fruit-bearing shrubs that unite to form a genuine 

 whortleberry-pasture, he only knows the unspeakable* 

 delights which are awakened by the sweet, simple notes 

 of this little warbler. 



The Wood-Sparrow is somewhat smaller than a Canary, 

 with a pale chestnut-colored crown, above of a brownish 

 hue, and dusky-white beneath. Though he does not seem 



