the
voluptuary, and whose tones inspire us with a sense of freedom known
only to those who often retire from the world, to live in religious
communion with Nature.

When the flowers of early summer are gone, and the graceful neottia is
seen in the meadows, extending its spiral clusters among the nodding
grasses,--when the purple orchis is glowing in the wet grounds, and the
roadsides are gleaming with the yellow blossoms of the hypericum, the
merry voice of the Bobolink has ceased, and many other familiar birds
have become almost silent. At this time, if we stroll away from the farm
and the orchard into more retired and wooded haunts, we may hear, at all
times of the day and at frequent intervals, the pensive and melodious
notes of the Wood-Sparrow, who sings as if he were delighted at being
left almost alone to warble and complain to the benevolent deities of
the grove. He who in his youth has made frequent visits to these
pleasant and solitary places, and wished that he could live and love
forever among the wild-roses, the blushing azaleas, the red
summer-lilies, and the thousands of beautiful and sweet-scented flowers
that spring up among the various spicy and fruit-bearing shrubs which
unite to form a genuine huckleberry-pasture,--he only knows the
unspeakable delights which are awakened by the sweet, simple notes of
this little warbler.

The Wood-Sparrow (_Fringilla pusilla_) is somewhat less than a Canary,
with a chestnut-colored crown; above of a grayish brown hue, and dusky
white beneath. Though he does not seem to be a shy bird, I have never
seen him in cultivated grounds, and the inmates of solitary cottages
alone are privileged to hear his notes from their windows. He loves the
hills which are half covered with young pines, viburnums, cornels, and
huckleberry-bushes, and feeds upon the seeds of grasses and wild
lettuce, with occasional repasts of insects and berries.

His notes are sweet and plaintive, seldom consisting of more than one
strain. He commences slowly, as if repeating the syllable, _de de de de
de de d' d' d' d' d' d' d' r' r' r'_,--increasing in rapidity, and at
the same time rising as it were by semi-tones, or chromatically, to
about a major fourth on the scale. In midsummer, when this bird is most
musical, he occasionally lengthens his song by alternately ascending and
descending, interposing a few chirping notes between the ascending and
descending series. The song loses a part of its sim