hing in words that you
understand--a message that makes you think about pure and holy things.
The songs of some birds please the ear alone, but this little brown
Hermit sings to your conscience. Some call him the Spirit of the Pines.
If, however, you never hear his song you can remember that the Hermit is
the brown bird with the rusty tail and speckled breast that hops among
your bushes in spring and fall. You must be very kind to him, and tell
your pet cat about him, warning her never to touch him."

The Hermit Thrush

Length about seven inches.

Upper parts an even olive-brown, except the tail, which is rich
reddish-brown, different from the rest.

Throat and breast light buff, with black spots that run together in
chains.

Belly white. A yellowish ring around the eye.

A Summer Citizen of the northern parts of eastern North America,
spending the winter south of its summer home.

A Ground Gleaner, Tree Trapper, and Seed Sower.

THE OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH

"Children who live where the Hermit Thrush sings will also have a good
chance to hear the Olive-back give his rapid bubbling music; for, like
the Hermit, he prefers a cool summer climate, and thinks that the
mountains agree with his health much better than the seashore. For this
reason he makes his home all through the Northern States, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, following the mountains southward, and making
long summer excursions to Labrador, Hudson Bay, and even Alaska."

[Illustration: Olive-backed Thrush.]

"What stories of wild beasts he might tell us if he would! For he looks
out of his nest of grass, moss, bark, and rootlets, to see moose
browsing among the young trees, and hears black bears growling. His bird
companions are Snowbirds, Horned Larks, Crossbills, and Pine Grosbeaks;
and he trembles lest the Great Gray Owl shall find his nestlings.

"But much as he loves cool weather for nest-building, he tires of it
when the first frost touches the valleys, and snow caps the tops of his
favorite mountains; for then his insect food grows scarce. So he changes
his summer habits; leaving the guild of Ground Gleaners, and becoming a
Seed Sower, he follows the sun toward the tropics, where, likely enough,
he tells the alligators long tales of northern lands and assures the
water-moccasin that, big snake as he is, the mountain rattlesnake is
quicker at biting.

"This Olive-backed Thrush you may _hear_ more often than see--he is a
will-o'-the-wi