NATURK STUDY. 
36 
song of two years ago was not more different from that, than 
that was i^om several of tlie other songs. The trills noted 
in the former transcription were replaced by tremolos of 
quickly alternating, concordant tones, somewhat after this 
fashion : 
tr 
nr— 
- t-f 
- 
®Tr-- ~ — 
—- 
T*— 
—J— 
‘-4 
A : 
4? 
of 
i — 5 
■'>'> t VI 
i. - t/C — 
— £.X- d 0 • 
Some of the party who were well acquainted with the 
song of the Wood Thrush were rather dissapointed in that 
of the Hermit. The very word “Hermit” suggests some¬ 
thing romantic and unusual and raises anticipation to an 
unreasonable pitch. It was the general opinion that while 
the song of the Hermit is exquisite in intonation and form 
it is surpassed in richness and in a certain vibratory power 
by that of the Wood Thrush. Tike the latter, the Hermit 
has the trick of occasionally repeating a phrase at such a 
high pitch that the tones are scarcely audible. In effect 
they resemble the harmonic tones produced upon a violin. 
The illusion of distance, too, suggests that the bird is prac¬ 
tising a sort of ventriloquism. 
On our return towards evening the Veeries were singing 
their vespers and making the dusky woods ring again. Kv- 
en with the music of the Hermits still ringing in our ears, 
we could not help admitting that in purity, wildness and a 
certain ecstatic quality the Veery was, after-all, unexcelled. 
There are four birds whose songs the unpracticed ob¬ 
server is very apt to find difficulty in distinguishing. Two 
of them are well known to almost every one, the third is 
more common than is generally supposed, and the fourth 
is locally abundant and becoming more so since protected 
by law. These are the Robin, the Oriole (also called the 
