310 WILSON'S THRUSH. 



slender, reddish-brown above, pure white underneath, the 

 throat and upper breast dark cream, streaked with small, 

 obscure, arrow-shaped brown spots. His general lightness 

 of color, especially his obscure spots on the breast, always 

 differentiates him from all other Thrushes. About the last of 

 May or early in June, when nidification begins, he becomes 

 a most delightful songster. Then, if you would hear him 

 to the best advantage, go to some low ground or swamp — 

 localities in which these birds are most numerous — between 

 sunset and dark, when sky and clouds put on their most gor- 

 geous hues, and all nature is sinking into silence. The mere 

 notes of the song are very simple, and, to my ear, sound some- 

 thing like the syllables, whree-u, whree-u, whree-u, whree-u, 

 uttered in a somewhat slow and strictly formal manner, and 

 often so softly that you imagine the bird, which is close by, 

 to be quite a distance off; but the tones may have a. marvelous 

 vibration, sweet, pathetic, and grand beyond comparison, as 

 " the sounding isles of the dim woods " return the softened 

 echoes. The tones, taken singly, I think are the sweetest I 

 ever heard, and can be compared to nothing else which ever 

 falls upon the ear. Each tone is one of many keys, all in 

 sweet attune, a chord of many different musical threads, 

 vibrating sweetly, and causing the atmosphere to respond 

 as if it were itself entranced. 



As is the case with other birds, several in the same 

 vicinity, will answer each other, one delivering his strain in 

 a little higher tone than another, and again falling a little 

 below him, the effect of which is very fine to a musical ear. 



Tranquility is the very essence and expression of this de- 

 lightful song. No sound in the whole domain of nature 

 could more perfectly compose the mind. Pitch your tent 

 where this bird is, and let him put you to sleep at night and 

 wake you up in the morning. 



