IOO



Mr. Hubert D. Asteey,



larger than a well grown Nightingale, being 6.7 inches in total

length. A dainty-looking bird ; a true aristocrat. Its shape and

demeanour, as well as its upper colouring, remind one strongly of

our famous songster, but the throat and breast are spotted as in

our Song Thrush.


This bird has the singular habit of raising its tail, which is

in proportion longer and more slender than that of our Song

Thrush, and allowing it to fall slowly back into its natural

position, which movement generally follows the act of perch¬

ing. It is, like the Thrushes of North America, migratory;

breeding from the northern United States northwards, and being

well-known in the eastern United States; then moving south.

A few winter even as far north as the Hudson River.


Mr. John Burroughs in his charming book ‘Wake-Robin,’

gives a very beautiful description of its song. He observed the

bird especially in the Adirondac Mountains. He writes:—

“Ever since I entered the woods, even while listening to the

“ lesser songsters, or contemplating the silent forms about me,

“ a strain has reached my ears from out of the depths of the

“ forest that to me is the finest sound in nature—the song of the

“ Hermit Thrush.


“ I often hear him thus a long way off, sometimes over a

“quarter of a mile away, when only the stronger and more per¬

fect parts of his music reach me; and through the chorus of

“ Wrens and Warblers I detect this sound rising pure and serene,

“as if a spirit from some remote height were slowly chanting a

“ divine accompaniment.


“ This song appeals to the sentiment of the beautiful in me,

“and suggests a serene religious beatitude as 110 other sound in

“ nature does. It is perhaps more of an evening than a morning

“hymn, though I hear it at all hours of the day.


“It is very simple, and I can hardly tell the secret of its

“ charm. ‘ O spheral, spheral! ’ he seems to say ; ‘ O holy, holy !

“ O clear away, clear away ! O clear up, clear up ! ’ interspersed

“ with the finest trills and most delicate preludes. It is not a

“ proud gorgeous strain like the Scarlet Tauager’s or the Rose-

“ breasted Grosbeak’s; suggests no passion or emotion—nothing

“ personal—but seems to be the voice of that calm sweet solemnity



