230 



THE WILLOW THRUSH. 



whistled -a'licc-cic: ami this, in turn, is varied and strengthened to :'c-cr-ii. or 

 J 'eery, whence the conim(.)n name nf the typical form, H. fiisccscciis. in the 

 East. The song proper consists of six or seven of these ix'-cr-ys, rolled out 

 with a rich and inimitable Ijrogue. The notes vibrate and resound, and fill the 

 air so full of music that one is led to suspect the multiple character of each. 

 The bird is really striking chords, and the sounding strings still vibrate when the 



next is struck. There 

 is, moreover, in the 

 whole performance, 

 a musical crescendo 

 coupled with a suc- 

 cessive lowering of 

 pitch, which is fairly 

 ravishing in its im- 

 |jression of mvstery 

 and power. 



The distribution 

 of this species is as 

 vet imperfectly made 

 out. Haxing made 

 its acquaintance at 

 Spokane and along 

 the valley of the 

 Pend d'Oreille, we 

 were able to recog- 

 nize it later at Che- 

 lan and Stebekin, the 

 latter unquestionably 

 the westernmost rec- 

 (ird (if its occurrence 

 in the United States. 

 Whether it may also 

 extend further south 

 along the east front 

 of the Cascades, re- 

 mains to be seen. 

 A nest liefiire me was taken 1j_\- Mr. Ered S. Merrill, in Spokane. It was 

 placed in the crotch of an alder at a height of two feet, and contained, on the 

 ninth day of Jime, four slightly incubated eggs. The nest is a rather loosely 

 constructed affair of bark-strips, dead leaves, coarse grasses, shavings, leaf- 

 stems, etc., and has a careless lining of dessicated leaves and broken grasses. 

 The matrix of mud, or leaf-mold, which gives strength and consistency to the 





Tahcn 



near Sfokanc. 



Photo by 

 F. S. Merrill. 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE WILLOW THRUSH. 



