24 THE Birps AxsouTt Us. 
series, because the highest, and first in ours, because 
the most interesting, is that of Passeres,—the Perch- 
ing Birds; and the leaders of this goodly company 
are the well-known and well-loved thrushes. How- 
ever delighted we may have been with the songs of 
our resident birds, which in April have so much mean- 
ing, for the nesting-time draws near,—the trill of the 
song-sparrow, the warble of the bluebird, and the wild 
whistle of the cardinal,—we are apt to forget them 
all when for the first time, through some lone path- 
Wood-thrush. 
way in the forest, floats the matchless melody of the 
Wood-thrush. There may be sweeter sounds the 
wide world over, but he is blessed that has heard this 
one. That this thrush is a bird of the evening, too, 
adds to the charm, for the song fittingly blends with 
the fading light; is meditative and vespertine rather 
than matutinal and rejoicing. But the wood-thrush 
sings at other times. Indeed, it seems to do little 
else than sing, when the matter of nesting is so far 
advanced as the completion of the structure, a large 
