48 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



which you have been listening to for some 

 time and have supposed to be at a con- 

 siderable distance, perched on a tree over 

 your very head. The veery is the smallest 

 of the thrushes, with heavily mottled breast 

 and tawny back, whence it is sometimes 

 called the tawny thrush. Of the song of 

 the veery Burroughs writes : " The soft, 

 mellow flute of the veery fills a place in 

 the chorus of the woods that the song 

 of the vesper-sparrow fills in the chorus 

 of the fields. It is one of the simplest 

 strains to be heard, delighting from the 

 pure element of harmony and beauty it 

 contains." 



The handsome oriole (icterus Baltimore), 

 to most of us the most conspicuous arrival 

 of May, has already begun to sing from 

 our elm-trees, and will soon commence 

 building his pendent nest. In the South it 

 is said that these birds invariably build on 

 the north and west side of the tree, while 

 in our colder climate it is well known that 

 they generally suspend their nests from 

 boughs looking to the south or east. I 



