WOOD THRUSH; SONG THRUSH. 
TURDUS MUSTELINUS. 
HIS is probably the most popular singer of all the 
thrushes. He may be heard at any hour of the 
day during the mating and nesting season, but his best 
performances are at morning and evening. While his 
melodies are not so varied as those of the brown or 
those of the hermit thrush, they are exquisite, the 
quality of tone being indescribably beautiful and fasci- 
nating. Chancing to hear him in the edge of the 
woods at twilight as he sings, 
in a moment one is oblivious to all else, and ready to 
believe that the little song is not of earth, but a wander- 
ing strain from the skies. How is it that a bird has that 
inimitable voice? Whence his skill in the use of it? 
Whence the inspiration that, with the utmost refinement, 
selects and arranges the tones in this scrap of divine 
melody? Hark! 
gq iy 
