232 



THE RUSSET-BACKED THRUSH. 



/ 



ARTIv^TS I if ihe later scIidoIs agree that shadows are not often black, as 

 they have been conventionally represented for centvn"ies. Their deepest color 

 note is always that of the ground, or screen, which bears them. The Thrush, 

 therefore, is the truest embodiment of woodland shade, for the shifting russets 



of its ui)perparts 

 melt and blend with 

 the tints of fallen 

 leaves, dun roots, 

 and the shadows of 

 tree-boles cast on the 

 brown ashes of fall- 

 en comrades. Not 

 content, either, with 

 such protective guar- 

 antee, this gentle 

 spirit clings to cover, 

 and reveals itself on- 

 Iv as a flitting shade 

 and a h a u n t i n g 

 voice. Now and then 

 a brown gleam does 

 cross some open 

 space in the forest, 

 but the action is has- 

 ty and the necessity 

 much regretted. 



The Russet-backed 

 Thrush is not much 

 *<it^ gi\'en to song, altho 



on occasion the 

 woodside mav ring 

 with the siiuple mel- 

 ody of its wee loo 

 w c el weeloece^. 

 Other notes are more 

 notable and charac- 

 teristic : and by these 

 one may trace the 

 bird's everv move- 



RUSSET-BACKED THRUSH. 



a. Prof. O. B. Johnson in his "List of the Birds of the Willamette Valley. Oregon" [Am. Naturalist, 

 July, 1880, p. 48;] has made an excellent characterization of this song in "Holsey, govcndy, govindy, 

 goz'eendy." 



