Lake Umbagog.
1909.
June 13 [June 13, 1909]
  Forenoon sunny & warm. Afternoon cloudy. Evening raining. Strong
S.W. wind.
  Another great singing day. Many of the smaller birds were scarcely
silent from daybreak to dark. The smoke less dense than it was yesterday.
Toads and Hylas silent through the hotter hours but making a
prodigious racket after sunset & into the night.
Batrachians
  I am having a fine opportunity here to study and compare
the songs of the Hermit, the Swainson's and the Wilson Thrushes.
The Swainson's is much the more persistent singer of the three,
being often heard at all hours of the day whereas the other two
species are nearly always silent save at morning & evening. Slowly but
surely I am coming to the conviction that the Swainson's is the
finest songster, also. It is undeniable that his best notes do not
equal the best that the Hermit can produce but unlike the Hermit
he utters no notes which are not musical and his song, as a whole,
is, to my ears, more finished and satisfactory. There is, moreover,
much less difference in individual merit among the different
individuals. Very many Hermits are inferior performers
Song of the
Hermit,
Swainson's
& Wilson's
Thrushes
compared