WOOD THRUSH. 
345 
of ’airdee, peculiarly liquid, and followed by a trill, re- 
peated in two interrupted bars, is readily recognisable. 
At times their notes bear a considerable resemblance to 
those of Wilson’s Thrush; such as eh rhehu ’ vrhehu , then 
varied to ’eh villia villia , ’eli villia vrhehu, then, ’eh vein 
villu, high and shrill. 
The Wood Thrush is always of a shy and retiring dis- 
position, appearing alone, or only in single pairs, and 
while he willingly charms us with his song, he is content 
and even solicitous to remain concealed. His favorite 
haunts are low, shady glens by water-courses, often ren- 
dered dark with alder bushes, mantled with the trailing 
grape-vine. In quest of his insect prey, he delights to 
follow the meanders of the rivulet, through whose leafy 
shades the sun-beams steal only in a few interrupted rays 
over the sparkling surface of the running brook. So 
partial is this bird to solitude, that I have known one to 
sing almost uniformly in the same place, though nearly 
half a mile from his mate and nest. At times indeed he 
would venture a few faltering, low notes in an oak near 
his consort, but his mellowest morning and evening war- 
ble was always delivered from a tall hickory, overtopping 
a grove of hemlock firs, in which the dimness of twilight 
prevailed even at noon. The Wood Thrush, like the 
Nightingale, therefore feels inspired in darkness, but in- 
stead of waiting for the setting sun, he chooses a retreat 
where the beams of day can seldom enter. These shady 
retreats have also an additional attraction to our Thrush ; 
it is here that the most interesting scene of his instinc- 
tive labor begins and ends ; here he first saw the light, 
and breathed into existence ; and here he now bestows 
his nest in a sapling oak, or in the next thick laurel or 
blooming alder, whose berries afford him an ample repast 
in the coming autumn. Outwardly it presents a warm bed 
