Saucy Jays and Polypores 153 



, " Untwisting all the chains that tie 



The hidden soul of harmony." ■ 



I crept quietly through all these winding halls, 

 which I had never before explored. Near the north- 

 ern portal of the glen stood a white birch, branchless, 

 and mellow in decay, yet beautifully robed with deli- 

 cate Butterfly Polypores of a velvety -purplish hue. 

 Turning at the junction of the streams, I frightened 

 up the oven-bird, the golden-crowned thrush. She 

 moaned and fluttered away, as though in distress, 

 dropping her wings and hiding among the ferns. I 

 searched about for her nest, and soon found it low upon 

 the ground. Her cottage door was open to the south, 

 revealing five pinkish eggs mottled with purple. The 

 nest was hooded, — thatched, as it were, like an Indian's 

 wigwam, with leaves, twigs, ferns, and mosses, — so like 

 the ground itself that I nearly walked upon it. 



We have five true thrushes of genus Turdus in the At- 

 lantic Region — the Veery, Wood-Thrush, and Hermit- 

 Thrush are found in this immediate region. They are 

 our peerless woodland songsters, coming about May 

 ist, and often lingering until September 15th. The 

 Veery winters in Central America, and flies as far north 

 as Newfoundland to nest in summer. Like the Her- 

 mit-Thrush, it builds its nest on the ground. The 

 Veery has a mysterious strain likened often to an 

 ^olian harp ; the Wood-Thrush rings like the chimes 

 of vesper bells, and the Hermit-Thrush has the deepest 

 note of all, rolling like " anthems clear" through the 

 ' Milton, L' Allegro. 



