BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 441 
to build nests overflow with the ebullition of fervid melodies. 
I have often listened to the delicious notes which to my ear are 
in no way inferior to those of the Wood Thrush. I am not 
surprised that those who have heard him for the first time 
should be ready to exalt him higher than the other in the scale 
of song, when I remember the associations amid which they 
found him. The silence, the delicious solitude of his choristry 
underneath the shadows of the grand, leaf-canopied forest, 
awaken feelings, sentiments and inspirations eminently calcu- 
lated to lend enchantment to his liquid, silvery, bell-toned notes 
which as they cease are instantly repeated by another, 
responding from the uncertain shadows in the distances 
beyond. His beautiful crescendo, begun so low and soft as to 
seem far away, and swelling upward progressively and evenly 
into its rounded sweetness and fullness, till he seems to be 
near enough to touch, yet all the time unseen, may well secure 
an appreciation of his powers to one for comparisons. This. 
characteristic is a keynote to his identity while yet undis- 
covered, as the song of the Wood Thrush is diametrically 
opposite in being an equally perfect diminuendo. 
This thrush cannot be said to be common in the middle and 
southern portions of the State except in its migrations, yet 
numbers enough remain through the summer to make it no 
difficult matter to find a nest with due patience, when its habits 
are well understood. 
I have found them within the limits of the corporation of 
Minneapolis and in the vicinity of Minnetonka in the “Big 
Woods,” a large belt of deciduous forest stretching diagonally 
from northeast to southwest through the State. I recall the 
discovery of one in the dark forest about a mile west of the 
Falls of Minnehaha. The Rev. J. A. Laurie, formerly residing 
at Duluth, informed me many years since of its presence near 
that city. He was a careful observer and has on many oc- 
casions contributed to me facts of interest in this department 
of natural history. It does not build its nest till near the first 
of June, which is uniformly directly on the ground, and under 
low thick brushes bordering, but not in the dense woods. 
It is generally quite near swampy localities. Itis composed 
of coarse grass, twiggs, moss and leaves externally, without 
mud, and internally of soft, pliable grasses, fine roots, and a 
few lichens quite artistically arranged. It is rather deeply 
hollowed. 
