THE VARIED THRUSH. 251 



matters of no consequence. The prettiest compliment that Nature can pay to 

 the genuine wildness of Ravenna Park, in Seattle, or Defiance Park, in Tacoma, 

 is the continued presence of tlie \'aried Thrush in nesting time. Run a survey 

 line across any timbered valley of western Washington, or up any timbered 

 slope of the Cascades or Olympics, and the bird most certainly encountered, 

 without reference to local topography or presumed preference, will be the 

 Varied Thrush. The bird may likewise be found among tlie larches and' 

 cedars of the Calispell Range. 



The \aried Thrush is known by a variety of names, none more persistent 

 or fitting than Winter Robin. It is a Robin in size, prevailing color, and 

 general make-up; and it appears in the lowlands in large numbers only in the 

 winter time, when the deep snows have driven it out of the hills. The Thrush 

 is much more shy than the Robin, and altho it moves about in straggling com- 

 panies, and does not shun city parks, it keeps more to cover. It also feeds 

 largely upon the ground, and when startled by a passer-by it flutters up sharply 

 into the trees with a wing-sound whose cjuality may soon be recognized as dis- 

 tincti\'e. At such times the bird makes off thru the branches with a low chuck, 

 or tsook, or else tries the air by low notes which are like the song, only \er_\' 

 much more subdued. This is manifestly an attempt to keep in touch with 

 com]3anions, while at the same time attracting as little hostile attention as 

 possible. This note is. therefore, barel\" audible, and has very little musical 

 quality, aanic, or ili'ir. 



The nesting of the \'aried Thrush was most fully brought to light by 

 ]\Ir. D. E. Brown, at Glacier, in the season of 1905. Like some tireless re- 

 trie\-er, this ai"dent naturalist quartered the mazes of the dense spruce forest 

 wdiich covers the floor of the North Fork of the Nooksack. and in a range of 

 some fifteen miles up and down that stream succeeded in locating forty-five 

 nests of this, till tlien. little-understood species. Of these, twenty-five con- 

 tained full sets of eggs, while the remainder fell before such accidents as 

 desertion, robbing by Jays, Owls, etc. The first set taken was on May 5th, 

 and the eggs were slightly incubated. The last, with fresh eggs, was taken 

 June 19th, — probably the second nesting of some bird robbed earlier in the 

 season. Among the nests examined, three contained sets of four each, and 

 the remainder three. Of the entire number, all were placed in evergreen trees, 

 save two. Of these last, one was set in the splinters in the broken top of a 

 willow, about fifteen feet up: and the other was placed in an upright crotch 

 of an elderberry bush at four feet from the ground. 



Here are the woods that abound in moss-bunches, — great balls of thrifty 

 green wdiich grow, without apparent excuse, alike from the flimsiest and from 

 the most substantial supports. It is in \iew of the abundance of these, that 

 the Varied Thrush builds as it does, right out in the open of the underwood, 

 near the top, or at least well up, in a small fir tree. The searcher has only the 



