BIRDS OF KANSAS. 645 



ceed in deliberate time, and finally blend together in impressive 

 and soothing harmony, becoming more mellow and sweet at 

 every repetition. Rival performers seem to challenge each 

 other from various parts of the wood, vieing for the favor of 

 their mates, with sympathetic responses and softer tones, and 

 some, waging a jealous strife, terminate the warm dispute by 

 an appeal to combat and violence. Like the Robin and the 

 Thrasher, in dark and gloomy weather, when other birds ai-e 

 sheltered and silent, the clear notes of the Wood Thrush are 

 heard through the dropping woods, from dawn to dusk, so that, 

 the sadder the day, the sweeter and more constant is his song. 

 His clear and interrupted whistle is likewise often nearly the 

 only voice of melody heard by the traveler to mid-day, in the 

 heat of summer, as he traverses the silent, dark and wooded 

 wilderness, remote from the haunts of men. It is nearly impos- 

 sible by words to convey any idea of the peculiar warble of this 

 vocal hermit; but amongst his phrases, the sound of 'Air-6-ee,' 

 peculiarly liquid, and followed by a trill, repeated in two inter- 

 rupted bars, is readily recognizable. At times their notes bear 

 a considerable resemblance to those of Wilson's Thrush, such as 

 'Eh rhehu, vrhehu,' then varied to 'Eh villia, villia, eh villia, 

 vrhehu,' then, 'Eh vein, villu,' high and shrill." 



Their nests are usually saddled on to a horizontal limb of a 

 tree, six to ten feet from the ground. They are composed out- 

 side of loose stems of weeds and leaves, attached to a closely 

 compact body of pulverized leaves, fibers and lint-like substances 

 from plants, plastered together with saliva and tracings of mud, 

 and lined with small, fibrous roots. Eggs three to five, 1.02x 

 ,74 (they vary greatly. in size); greenish blue; in form, oval. 



Tardus fuscescens Steph. 



WILSON'S THRUSH. 



Migratory; rare. I have never met with the birds in the west- 

 ern part of the State. Arrive the last of April to first of Maj^; 

 begin to return early in September; none, to my knowledge, 

 remain later than the middle of October. 



B. 151. R. 2. C. 7. G. 2, 328. U. 750. 



