APPENDIX. 163 



BIG-TREE THRUSH. Contin. 



Mr. Belding writes under date January 6, 1891 : 



" I am familiar with the songs of the veery, of Mustelinus, 

 and all which breed in Northern Pennsylvania. The tone of 

 T. Sequoiensis is strikingly different from that of any thrush I 

 know, though it is remarkable that its most frequent song has 

 the identical intervals that the wood thrush has. I have lis- 

 tened to the song of T. Sequoiensis many, many hours, usually 

 toward evening, often when it was quite dark." 



Tawny Thrush. (See p. 58.) 



" The song of this thrush is quaint, but not unmusical ; variable in its 

 character, changing from a prolonged and monotonous whistle to quick 

 and almost shrill notes at the close. Their melody is not unfrequently 

 prolonged until quite late in the evening, and in consequence in some 

 portions of Massachusetts these birds are distinguished with the name of 

 Nightingale, a distinction due rather to the season than to the high qual- 

 ity of their song. Yet Mr. Ridgway regards it, as heard by himself in Utah, 

 as superior in some respects to that of all others of the genus, though far 

 surpassed in mellow richness of voice and depth of metallic tone by that 

 of the Wood Thrush ( T. mustelinus). To his ear there was a solemn har- 

 mony and a beautiful expression which combined to make the song of 

 this surpass that of all the other American Wood Thrushes. The beauty 

 of their notes appeared in his ears ' really inspiring, their song consisting 

 of an inexpressibly delicate metallic utterance of the syllables ta-weel' ah, 

 ta-weel' ah, twil' ah, twil' ah, accompanied by a fine trill which renders it 

 truly seductive/ The last two notes are said to be uttered in a soft and 

 subdued undertone, producing thereby, in effect, an echo of the others." 

 Bairtl, Brewer, and Ridgway : North Amer. Birds. Land-Birds, vol. i. p. 10. 



Mr. Nelson regards the veery's as the most "spiritual" of all bird- 

 songs ; Nuttall prefers the song of the wood- thrush. 



See Our Birds. (New Eng. Mag., vol. i. 1831, p. 332.) 



" All bird-songs are delicate things. It is impossible to 

 represent them in all respects. One can give only the 

 naked frame-work. The quality of tone and a thousand 

 graceful touches can only be heard. If ever my bird-songs 



