546 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



repetitions of the first, except that each is two or 

 three tones lower than the preceding, the last end- 

 ing at least two octaves lower than the commen- 

 cing note of the song. 



Were one to attempt to perform these notes 

 with a whistle adapted to the purpose, he would 

 probably fail, from the impossil)ility of imitating the 

 peculiar trilling sound which the bird makes, espec- 

 ially at the conclusion of each strain. The whole is 

 warbled in such a manner as to produce upon the ear 

 the effect of harmony. It seems as if one heard 

 two or three concordant notes at the same moment. 

 I have never noticed this effect in the song of any 

 other bird. I should judge that it might be pro- 

 duced by the rapid descent from the commencing 

 note of his strain, to the last note a fifth below, the 

 latter being distinctly heard, simultaneously with 

 the reverberation of the first note. 



Another remarkable quality of his song is the 

 union of brilliancy and plaintiveness. The first ef- 

 fect is produced by the commencing notes of each 

 strain, which are sudden and on a high key ; the 

 second by the graceful chromatic slide to a fifth be- 

 low, with a termination that is inimitable and ex- 

 ceedingly solemn. I have sometimes thought that 

 a part of the delightful effect of these notes might 

 be attributable to the deep woods in which they are 

 uttered. But I have occasionally heard them, while 

 the bird was singing from a solitary tree in an open 

 field, where they were equally pleasing and impres- 

 sive. I am not peculiar in my admiration of this 

 little bird. Audubon declares his preference for it, 

 and considers it the finest singer of the groves ; 

 and I have observed that people who are strangers 

 to the woods, and to the notes of birds, are always 

 attracted by the song of the wood thrush. 



In my early days, when I was at school, I board- 

 ed in a house adjoining a grove that was vocal with 

 wood thrushes ; and it was there I learned to love 

 that song more than any other sound in nature, and 

 above the finest strains of artificial music. Since 

 that time I have lived in town, apart from these 

 sylvan solitudes, which I have visited only during 

 my hours of leisure. But I have seldom failed on 

 each returning year, to make frequent visits to the 

 wood, to listen to these notes, which cause a full 

 half of the pleasure I derive from a summer walk. 

 If on any year, I fail to hear the song of the wood 

 thrush, I feel a sense of regret, as when I have 

 missed an opportunity to see an absent friend, dur- 

 ing a periodical visit. 



For a y(>ar past, I have lived near a grove that 

 is frequented by wood thrushes, and in May I of- 

 ten walk to this wood in the evening to listen to 

 their concerts. I was ill and confined at home dur- 

 ing all the month of June, and did not go abi'oad 

 until near the middle of July. At length I took 

 one of my accustomed walks, and listened for the 

 notes of the wood thrush. As I looked around I 

 perceived that the wild roses had mostly dropped 

 from their stems ; the asclepias and the red sum- 

 mer lilies were in bloom, and on all sides were the 

 evidences that the time of the singing birds was 

 drawing near to a close. I listened and waited 

 long ; but his voice was not to be heard. The 

 sweetest singer of the groves, the philomel of our 

 pleasant summer evenings was silent, and a sadness 

 seemed to pervade all the woodland solitude. The 

 ground-robin still uttered his monotonous ditty, the 

 grass -finch sang his familiar notes from the fences 

 "n the mowing fields, and the little wood-sparrow, 



with his delightful pensive warble, was more vocal 

 than ever in the wild whortleberry pastures. But 

 not all these could compensate for the silence of 

 the woodthrush. When I perceived that this little 

 bird was silent, I felt more keenly sensible of the 

 time I had lost by my illness, and of the rapid flight 

 of the pleasant summer months. 



As may be inferred by the reader, the wood thrush 

 is not one of our latest singers. His notes are not 

 often heard after the middle of July, though the 

 hermit thrush, an allied species, sometimes sings 

 as late as the middle of August. The notes of this 

 bird are hardly less remarkable than those of the 

 wood thrush ; and they would undoubtedly produce 

 as powerful an effect upon the listener, were it not 

 for the long pauses between the different strains, 

 which if they followed each other immediately, 

 would be unrivalled by the notes of any bird in ex- 

 istence. But I must reserve the hermit thrush for 

 another sketch. 



JVote. — I have seldom read any thing with so 

 much pleasure as the communication of Mr. Charles 

 S. Paine, respecting certain peculiarities in the sing- 

 ing habits of the song-sparrow. I think he is truly 

 entitled to the reputation of a discoverer ; for it is 

 not probable that the fact which he stated has been 

 observed by any other person. I have always no- 

 ticed that the song-sparrow varied his notes, but 

 never suspected that he sang through a regular se- 

 ries of variations. Since I read Mr. Paine's com- 

 munication, I have made an attempt to transcribe 

 the notes of this bird upon the musical staff, and 

 have made out five distinct tones, and I have no 

 doubt I shall succeed in com])leting the seven. I 

 have tested the truth of Mr. P.'s assertion to my 

 own satisfaction ; and while making my observa- 

 tions, I was surprised at the near approach in the 

 notes of the song-sparrow to accuracy in time, and 

 in musical intervals. It seems to me that his strains 

 are mostly in triple time, a few in common time, 

 with an occasional blending of both. The song con- 

 sists usually of four strains, occasionally lengthened 

 to five, while the song is frequently terminated at 

 the end of the third strain. This habit of varying 

 his notes through so many permutations, and the 

 singularly fine intonations of many of them, entitle 

 the song-sparrow to a very high rank as a singing 

 bird. I hope Mr. Paine, who is evidently a keen 

 and original observer, will favor the public with 

 more of his observations. 



For the I\ew England Farmer. 



WHAT BRINGS THE CLOVER ? 



Mr. Editor : — In a recent number of the Far- 

 mer, I notice an article in which is the question, 

 "Where have the clovers come from ?" and the 

 question seems to be yet open for discussion. 



There is no doubt but that this has been an ex- 

 traordinary year for the production of clover. — 

 Some of our fields have yielded two crops this sea- 

 son, and there is a good growth standing. One field 

 which we never plow, owing to its liability to wash, 

 and which seldom produced clover, this year was 

 covered with a fine crop, and every farm in this re- 

 gion has been more than usually prolific in the 

 production of clover. 



One theory presented as to the cause of this is, 

 that it is owing to the effects of ])revious droughts, 

 which cause the moisture to rise from below, bring- 



