190 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



nignt, just as the 'cock crows. I have heard the hair 

 bird, and the note of the king-bird ; and the ruffed 

 grouse frequently drums at night 



At the first faint signs of day, a wood-thrush sang 

 a few rods below us. Then after a little delay, as 

 the gray light began to grow around, thrushes broke 

 out in full song in all parts of the woods. I thought 

 I had never before heard them sing so sweetly. Such 

 a leisurely, golden chant ! it consoled us for all we 

 had undergone. It was the first thing in order, 

 the worms were safe till after this morning chorus. 

 I judged that the birds roosted but a few feet from 

 the ground. In fact, a bird in all cases roosts where 

 it builds, and the wood-thrush occupies, as it were, 

 the first story of the woods. 



There is something singular about the distribution 

 of the wood-thrushes. At an earlier stage of iny ob- 

 servations I should have been much surprised at find- 

 ing it in these woods. Indeed, I had stated in print 

 on two occasions that the wood-thrush was not found 

 in the higher lands of the Catskills, but that the her- 

 mit-thrush and the veery, or Wilson's thrush, were 

 common. It turns out that this statement is only 

 half true. The wood-thrush is found also, but is 

 much more rare and secluded in its habits than either 

 ">of the others, being seen only during the breeding 

 season on remote mountains, and then only on their 

 eastern and southern slopes. I have never yet in 

 this region found the bird spending the season in the 

 near and familiar woods, which is directly contrary 



