ACCORDING TO SEASON 



the wood-thrush and equally larger than the 

 hermit. Its olive-brown head, bill, and tail, and 

 its unspotted throat help to identify it. 



The song of the hermit-thrush is a marvel of 



Hermit- sweetness and spirituality, with the hymn-like 

 quality so noticeable in that of the wood-thrush. 

 But it is much shorter, and less of an actual song 

 than one would suppose from the usual descrip- 

 tions. Commonly I hear it repeated twice with a 

 very brief interval of time, in different keys, the 

 second higher than the first. After a longer inter- 

 val the repetition takes place again, and continues 

 indefinitely. Both birds belong to the deeper 

 woods, their songs reaching one from some 

 shadowy seclusion where they can be traced with 

 difficulty. 



One of the attractive possibilities of a wood- 



Partridges walk in June is the flushing of a covey of partridges. 

 The thrill of excitement as the whirr of their 

 wings strikes our ears is enhanced by the probable 

 dash of the mother-bird across our path, with 

 trailing wing and every appearance of serious 

 injury, in the effort, usually successful, to distract 

 our attention from the young chicks, which scurry 

 away in another direction. The brown and white 

 markings of these birds blend so perfectly with 

 the leaf-strewn, sun-flecked ground, and with the 

 brown twigs and tree-trunks, that were it not 



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