HERMIT THRUSH. 203 



The call of the tawny is greatly varied, but the 

 hermit has a peculiar, nasal chuck, which, Mr. 

 Bicknell says, suggests "the note of a distant 

 blackbird." 



The low, sweet, trilled song of the tawny bears 

 little resemblance to the loud, richly modulated 

 song of the hermit ; but as they have been mis- 

 taken for each other, it may be well to give the 

 approximate relations of time and note in mu- 

 sical phrase. Like the song of the tawny, the 

 hermit's is divided into three parts, going down 

 the scale. But the trill is, here, only the middle 

 of each phrase 





Variations from this occur in broken songs, as : 



ah re oo-oo, 



At a little distance this is probably the most 

 beautiful song of our woods. Mr. Burroughs 

 says that to him it is the finest sound in nature. 

 In the Adirondack region the retiring hermit is 

 appropriately known as the " swamp angel." 



On the beautiful May morning when we found 

 the red-winged blackbirds " fluting their o-ka-lee " 

 over the field of cowslips, we went on to the woods 

 back of the alder swamp where the wild flowers 



