BIRCH BROWSINGS 



song in all parts of the woods. I thought 

 I had never before heard them sing so 

 sweetly. Such a leisurely, golden chant ! 

 — it consoled us for all we had undergone. 

 It was the first thing in order, — the worms 

 were safe till after this morning chorus. 

 I judged that the birds roosted but a few 

 feet from the ground. In fact, a bird in all 

 cases roosts where it builds, and the wood 

 thrush occupies, as it were, the first story 

 of the woods. 



There is something singular about the 

 distribution of the wood thrushes. At an 

 earlier stage of my observations I should 

 have been much surprised at finding it in 

 these woods. Indeed, I had stated in print 

 on two occasions that the wood thrush was 

 not found in the higher lands of the Cats- 

 kills, but that the hermit thrush and the 

 veery, or Wilson's thrush, were common. 

 It turns out that this statement is only half 

 true. The wood thrush is found also, but 

 is much more rare and secluded in its habits 

 than either of the others, being seen only 

 during the breeding season on remote moun- 

 tains, and then only on their eastern and 

 southern slopes. I have never yet in this 

 region found the bird spending the season 

 99 



