IN THE HEMLOCKS. 45 



vacca), cheerful and happy as the merry whistle of a 

 school-boy. He is one of our most common and widely 

 distributed birds. Approach any forest at any hour 

 of the da\-, in any kind of weather, from May to Au- 

 gust, in any of the Middle or Eastern districts, and the 

 chances are that the first note you hear will be his. 

 Rain or shine, before noon or after, in the deep forest 

 or in the village grove, ■ — when it is too hot for the 

 thrushes or too cold and windy for the warblers, — it 

 is never out of time or place for this little minstrel to 

 indulge his cheerful strain. In the deep wilds of the 

 Adirondack, where few birds ^re seen and fewer heard, 

 his note was almost constantly in my ear. Always 

 busy, making it a point never to suspend for one mo- 

 ment his occupation to indulge his musical taste, his 

 lay is that of industry and contentment. There is 

 nothing plaintive or especially musical in his perform- 

 ance, but the sentiment expressed is eminently that of 

 cheerfulness. Indeed, the songs of most birds have 

 some human significance, which, I think, is the source 

 of the delight we take in them. The song of the bob- 

 olink to me expresses hilarity ; the song-sparrow's, 

 faith ; the bluebird's, love ; the cat-bird's, pride ; the 

 white-eyed fly-catcher's, self-consciousness ; that of the 

 hermit-thrush, spiritual-serenity : while there is some- 

 thing military in the call of the robin. 



The vireosylvia is classed among the fly-catchers by 

 some writers, but is much more of a worm-eater, and 

 has few of the traits or habits of the Muscicapa or the 



