SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 159 



The song of the Wood Thrush is one of the finest specimens 

 of bird music that America can produce. Among all the 

 bird songs that I have ever heard, it is second only in quality 

 to that of the Hermit Thrush . It is not projected upon the 

 still air with the effort that characterizes the bold arid vigor- 

 ous lay of the Eobin, or the loud and intermittent carol of 

 the Thrasher. Its tones are solemn and serene. They seem 

 to harmonize with the sounds of the forest, the whispering 

 breeze, the purling water, or the falling of rain drops in the 

 summer woods. As with most other birds, there is a great 

 difference in the excellence of individual performers, and, 

 while some males of the species can produce such notes as 

 few birds can rival, this cannot truly be said of all. At 

 evening the bird usually mounts to the higher branches of 

 the taller trees, often upon the edge of the forest, where 

 nothing intervenes to confine or subdue his "heavenly music." 

 There, sitting quite erect, he emits his wonderful notes in 

 the most leisurely fashion, and apparently with little effort. 

 A olee, he sings, and rests ; then, unhurried, pours forth a 

 series of intermittent strains which seem to express in music 

 the sentiment of nature ; powerful, rich, metallic, with the 

 vanishing vibratory tones of the bell, they seem like a vocal 

 expression of the mystery of the universe, clothed in a 

 melody so pure and ethereal that the soul still bound to its 

 earthly tenement can neither imitate nor describe it. The 

 song rises and falls; swells and dies away, until dark night 

 has fallen. The alarm note of the bird is a sharp pit, pit, 

 several times repeated ; this alarum often rises to a long roll. 

 A soft cluck, also repeated, is sometimes heard. A mellow, 

 rather liquid chirp is another common note. 



The food of the Wood Thrush consists largely of insects. 

 A considerable portion of fruit is taken in summer and fall. 

 Owing, perhaps, to the usually retiring habits of the bird, 

 cultivated fruit is seldom eaten ; but, as wild blackberries, 

 strawberries, cherries, and gooseberries are taken, the culti- 

 vated varieties of those fruits probably are eaten to some 

 extent where the birds breed in the vicinity of dwellings. 

 The amount taken, however, is not large in any case. In 

 examining twenty-two specimens of this Thrush, taken from 



