116 THE ANTHEM OF MOEN. 



As the woods are the residence of a tribe of musicians 

 that differ from those we hear in the open fields and 

 orchards, we must spend a morning in each of these situ- 

 ations, to obtain a hearing of all the songsters of daybreak. 

 For this reason I have said nothing of the thrushes, that 

 sing chiefly in the woods and solitary pastures, and are 

 commonly more musical in the early evening than in the 

 morning. I have confined my remarks chiefly to those 

 birds that frequent the orchards and gardens, and dwell 

 familiarly near the habitations of men. 



At sunrise hardly a robin can be heard in the whole 

 neighborhood, and the character of the performance has 

 completely changed during the last half-hour. The first 

 part was more melodious and tranquillizing, the last is 

 more brilliant and animating. The grass-finches, the 

 vireos, the wrens, and the linnets have joined their voices 

 to the chorus, and the bobolinks are loudest in their song. 

 But the notes of birds in general are not so incessant as 

 before sunrise. One by one they discontinue their lays, un- 

 til at high noon the bobolink and the warbling flycatcher 

 are almost the only vocalists to be heard in the fields. 



Among the agreeable accompaniments of a summer 

 morning walk are the odors from the woods, the herbage, 

 and the flowers. At no other hour of the day is the 

 atmosphere so fragrant with their emanations. The blos- 

 soms of almost every species of plant are just unfolding 

 their petals, after the sleep of night, and their various 

 offerings of incense are now poured out at the ruddy shrine 

 of morning. The objects of sight and sound are generally 

 the most expressive in a description of nature, because 

 seeing and hearing are the intellectual senses. But the 

 perfumes that abound in different situations are hardly 

 less suggestive than sights and sounds. Let a person 

 who has always been familiar with green fields and bab- 

 bling brooks, and who has suddenly become blind, be led 



