LIFE OF WILSON. clxxxiii 



beautiful simplicity of nature, gave her willing consent ; and 

 the little fellow went off, on the wings of ecstasy, to execute 

 his delightful commission. 



" The similitude of this little boy's enthusiasm to my own, 

 struck me; and the reader will need no explanations of mine to 

 make the application. Should my country receive with the 

 same gracious indulgence the specimens which I here humbly 

 present her; should she express a desire for me to go and bring 

 her more, the highest wishes of my ambition will be gratified ; 

 for, in the language of my little friend, our whole woods are 

 full of them! and I can collect hundreds more, much hand- 

 somer than these.' 7 



In a work abounding with so many excellencies, it would 

 not be difficult to point out passages of merit, any one of which 

 would give the author a just claim to the title of a describer of 

 no ordinary powers. 



We select the following description, from the history of the 

 Wood Thrush: " At whatever time the wood thrush may ar- 

 rive, he soon announces his presence in the woods. With the 

 dawn of the succeeding morning, mounting to the top of some 

 tall tree, that rises from a low thick-shaded part of the woods r 

 he pipes his few, but clear and musical, notes in a kind of ec- 

 stasy; the prelude or symphony to which strongly resembles 

 the double-tongueing of a German flute, and sometimes the 

 tinkling of a small bell. The whole song consists of five or 

 six parts, the last note of each of which is in such a tone, 

 as to leave the conclusion evidently suspended; the finale 

 is finely managed, and with such charming effect, as to sooth 

 and tranquillize the mind, and to seem sweeter and mellower 

 at each successive repetition. Rival songsters, of the same spe- 

 cies, challenge each other from different parts of the wood, 

 seeming to vie for softer tones, and more exquisite responses^ 

 During the burning heat of the day they are comparatively 

 mute; but in the evening the same melody is renewed, and 

 continued long after sunset. Even in dark, wet and gloomy 



