eee OBO N BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Pinos AUDUBON Sorel Ty 
2001 NorTH CLARK STREET, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
Number 45 March, 1943 
Notes of a North Carolina Day 
By Harry R. SMITH 
DURING THAT indeterminate state of mind between deep sleep and wakeful- 
ness, I have been vaguely conscious of a soft, flute-like call. It continues 
with regularity for several minutes before I am definitely aware that it is 
the song of the wood thrush, and that I am in the peaceful little community 
of Tryon, in southwestern North Carolina where the Great Smokies and 
the Blue Ridge Mountains begin to fall away to the foot-hills that meet 
the coastal plain. As I open my eyes and look toward my window I am 
surprised that there is no indication of daylight. It is 6:10 A.M. Eastern 
War Time and the date is April 21, 1942. 
Hogback Mountain, Tryon, N. C. 
Sleepily I recall reading where someone refers to the song of the 
wood thrush as “cathedral music.”’ Yes, it has the tonal quality of a pipe 
organ and there is the mystic quality and a solemnity that makes it most 
natural to associate it with stained glass windows and a religious atmos- 
phere. At the beginning I had thought that only one bird was singing and 
that I heard its echo, but there are now at least three distinct songs. 
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