302 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



and June, will be at no loss to recognise, from the 

 above description, this pleasing musician. Even in 

 dark, wet, and gloomy weather, when scarce a single 

 chirp is heard from any other bird, the clear notes of 

 the wood-thrush thrill through the drooping woods 

 from morning to night; and it may truly be said 

 that the sadder the day the sweeter is his song *." 



There are upwards of twenty other American birds 

 which Wilson characterizes in the same graphic 

 manner, such as the brown thrush (T. rufus), whose 

 song is emphatic, full of variety, and so loud that in 

 a serene morning, when the wind is hushed and 

 before "the busy hum of men" begins, his voice may 

 be distinguished at the distance of half a mile ; the 

 migratory thrush (T. migratorius), who is an early 

 songster, frequently commencing before the snow 

 has disappeared, and perching on a stake or fence, 

 to begin the prelude to the general concert ; the 

 Baltimore oriole (Oriolus Baltimorus'), whose notes 

 consist of a clear mellow whistle, repeated at short 

 intervals as he gleams among the branches, charac- 

 terized by a certain wild plaintiveness and interesting 

 simplicity, like that of a careless ploughboy whistling 

 for amusement, and that even among the poplars of 

 the American streets, amidst the din of coaches, and 

 wheelbarrows, and the bawling of oyster-women ; 

 the Virginian nightingale (Loxia cardinalis), who 

 sings from March till September with great clear- 

 ness, melody, vivacity, variety, and sprightliness, 

 many of his notes being as loud as those of a fife ; 

 and the song sparrow (Fringilla meloda), by far the 

 earliest, the most unwearied, and sweetest of the 

 American song-birds, whose notes resemble the 

 beginning of the canary's song. But we may men- 

 tion another instance still more adverse to the theory, 

 that, namely, of the rice-bird (Emberiza oryzivora), 

 * Amer. Ornith. i. 33. 



