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never heard the Nightingale, but those who have, say that it is the surroundings and its continuous night singing that make it even the equal of our Hermit; for, while the Nightingales sing in numbers in the moonlit groves, the Hermit tunes his lute sometimes in inaccessible solitudes, and there is something immaterial and immortal about the song. Presently you cease altogether to associate it with a bird, and it inspires a kindred feeling in every one who hears it.

Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller tells delightfully of her pursuit of the Hermit in northern New York, where it was said to be abundant, but when she looked for him, he had always "been there" and was gone; until one day in August she saw the bird and heard the song and exclaims: "This only was lacking. . . . This crowns my summer."^[1]

Among many local names this bird has received, that given by the early settlers in the Adirondack region is the most appropriate; they call it the Swamp Angel.

American Robin: Merula migratoria.

Plate 6. Fig. 1.

Length: 10 inches.

Male: Above olive-gray, head black, wings dark brown, tail black with white spot on two outer quills. Entire breast brick-red. Throat streaked with black and white. White eyelids. Bill yellow, dusky at tip; feet dark.

Female: Paler throughout, resembling the autumn plumage of the male.

Song: A vigorous interrogative melody, cheerful but somewhat lacking in variety. "Do you think what you do, do you think what you do, do you think?" Call note, "Quick! Quick!"

Season: Present all the year. The migratory flocks come in March and leave in October and early November.

Breeds: From Virginia and Kansas northward to the Arctic coast.

Nest: On a horizontal branch, in a tree crotch, hedge, or strong vine. Made of small sticks, plastered more or less and lined with mud.

Eggs: 4, of the peculiar green-blue, known by the name of the bird.

Range: Eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains, including eastern Mexico and Alaska. Winters from southern Canada. and the Northern States (irregularly) southward.

1. "Little Brothers of the Air."

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