But as a matter of fact, they were written before he knew Henry Thoreau.
I wonder how many know the woodcock's evening hymn.

I have known many sportsmen and naturalists who never heard it or heard of it.

When the female is on her nest the male woodcock flies straight up into the sky, folds his wings and falls down through the air, coming down within a foot or two of the nest from which he ascended, pouring out a beautiful song, which he never sings at any other time.

He is said to be one of the best and sweetest of our song birds.
It is a singular fact that Emerson did not know Henry Thoreau until after Thoreau had been some years out of college.

Henry walked to Boston, eighteen miles, to hear one of Emerson's lectures, and walked home again in the night after the lecture was over.