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WOOD THRUSH. 



This sweet and solitary songster inhabits the whole of 

 North America, from Hudson's Bay to the peninsula of 

 Florida. He arrives in Pennsylvania about the 20th of 

 April, or soon after, and returns to the south about the be- 

 ginning of October. The lateness or earliness of the season 

 .seems to make less difference in the times of arrival of our 

 birds of passage than is generally imagined. Early in April 

 the woods are often in considerable forwardness, and scarce a 

 .summer bird to be seen. On the other hand, vegetation is 

 sometimes no further advanced on the 20th of April, at which 

 time {e.g., this present year,. 1807) numbers of wood thrushes 

 are seen flitting through the moist woody hollows, and a 

 variety of the Motacilla genus chattering from almost every 

 bush, with scarce an expanded leaf to conceal them. But at 

 whatever time the wood thrush may arrive, he soon announces 

 his presence in the woods. With the dawn of the succeeding 

 morning, mounting to the top of some tall tree that rises from 

 ji low thick shaded part of the woods, he pipes his few, but 

 clear and musical notes, in a kind of ecstasy; the prelude or 

 symphony to which strongly resembles the double-tonguing 

 of a German flute, and sometimes the tinkling of a small bell ; 

 the whole song consists of five or six parts, the last note of 

 each of which is in such a tone as to leave the conclusion evi- 

 dently suspended ; the finale is finely managed, and with such 

 charming effect as to soothe and tranquillise the mind, and 

 to seem sweeter and mellower at each successive repetition. 

 Rival songsters, of the same species, challenge each other from 

 different parts of the wood, seeming to vie for softer tones and 

 more exquisite responses. During the burning heat of the 

 day, they are comparatively mute ; but in the evening the 

 same melody is renewed, and continued long after sunset. 

 Those who visit our woods, or ride out into the country at 

 these hours, during the months of May and June, will be at 

 no loss to recognise, from the above description, this pleasing 

 musician. Even in dark, wet, and gloomy weather, when 

 scarce a single chirp is heard from any other bird, the clear 



