s, along which soldiers, laborers, and truant schoolboys are
passing at all hours of the day. It is so far escaping from the axe and
the bushwhack as to have opened communication with the forest and
mountain beyond by straggling lines of Cedar, Laurel, and Blackberry.
The ground is mainly occupied with Cedar and Chestnut, with an
undergrowth, in many places, of Heath and Bramble. The chief feature,
however, is a dense growth in the centre, consisting of Dog-wood,
Water-Beech, Swamp-Ash, Alder, Spice-Bush, Hazel, etc., with a network
of Smilax and Frost-Grape. A little zig-zag stream, the draining of a
swamp beyond, which passes through this tangle-wood, accounts for many
of its features and productions, if not for its entire existence. Birds
that are not attracted by the Heath or the Cedar and Chestnut are sure
to find some excuse for visiting this miscellaneous growth in the
centre. Most of the common birds literally throng this inclosure; and I
have met here many of the rarer species, such as the Great-Crested
Flycatcher, the Solitary Warbler, the Blue-Winged Swamp-Warbler, the
Worm-Eating Warbler, the Fox-Sparrow, etc. The absence of all birds of
prey, and the great number of flies and insects, both the result of
proximity to the village, are considerations which no Hawk-fearing,
peace-loving minstrel passes over lightly: hence the popularity of the
resort.

But the crowning glory of all these Robins, Flycatchers, and Warblers is
the Wood-Thrush. More abundant than all other birds, except the Robin
and Cat-Bird, he greets you from every rock and shrub. Shy and reserved
when he first makes his appearance in May, before the end of June he is
tame and familiar, and sings on the tree over your head, or on the rock
a few paces in advance. A pair even built their nest and reared their
brood within ten or twelve feet of the piazza of a large summer-house in
the vicinity. But when the guests commenced to arrive and the piazza to
be thronged with gay crowds, I noticed something like dread and
foreboding in the manner of the mother-bird; and from her still, quiet
ways, and habit of sitting long and silently within a few feet of the
precious charge, it seemed as if the clear creature had resolved, if
possible, to avoid all observation.

The Hermit-Thrush, the Wood-Thrush, and the Veery (_Turdus Wilsonii_)
are our peers of song. The Mocking-Bird undoubtedly possesses the
greatest range of mere talent, the most varied executive