high, clear melody they sing fits the sacred strains of 
-vespers or benediction in great cathedrals. Its quality and 
measure could only come from knowledge of a world that 
is hidden from mankind. 
Tired feet, aching back, mosquitoes, and other worries 
were at once forgotten when the first Sierra Hermit Thrush 
was heard at the Mountaineer’s Lodge in the Cascade Range _ 
in Washington. To add to the joy of all the party, that day 
was made a red-letter one by a trio, which was sung by a 
Sierra Hermit, a Varied, and a Russet-backed Thrush. The 
birds were not afraid and came about the porch where the 
party rested, so that birds and melodies were easily iden- 
tified. The three varieties mounted the lower branches of 
_ the surrounding trees and satisfied the longings of the 
listeners by their liquid evening hymns, seeming to rejoice 
in human companions for a never-to-beforgotten hour. 
A lover of bird song need not go so far from home to 
hear one of these songsters, which is perhaps the commonest 
summer: resident in the western part of our country. 
- Many a brush heap, many a hedge, many a thicket even in — 
cities will give shelter in this favored section to the Russet-_ 
backed Thrush from about the first of May until late Sep- 
tember. If the observer wants to know whether he has 
returned in the spring, from his long journey south (even as — 
far as Guatemala) a soft whistled “hu-whit” will sometimes 
get him to respond by the same sound from the tangles of. 
near-by shrubbery. The boys of the Northwest have often 
named him the “whistlebird’ from the sweet call note. 
He will follow this imitation of his call until he satisfies — 
his desire to know whether another thrush has arrived and 
may express his disgust or impatience, for who can be sure 
of the thought of a bird, by a sharp ery of “qu -wit” when he 
finds the source of the sounds. He often does not sing until 
later in May, but has responded to an imitation of his song 
as early as the middle of this month about Puget Sound. 
- The description given of the Sierra Hermit Thrush 
6 
