708 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



319. Wood Thrush. Hylocichla mustelina {Gmcl). (755) 



Synonyms: Song Thrusli, Wood Robin, Bell Bird. — Turdus niustclinus, Gmel., 1789, 

 and most authors until 1880. — Hylocichla mustelina, Ridgw., 1880, and most recent 

 authors. — Turdus melodus, Wils., 1808. 



Plate LXIX. 



Largest of the small thrushes and the only one which is heavily spotted 

 on the sides as well as the breast with large round dark spots. In addition 

 the upper parts are reddish brown, brightest on the head and back, the 

 tail paler. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States to the Plains, north to southern 

 Michigan, Ontario, and Massachusetts, south in winter to Guatemala 

 and Cuba. Breeds from Virginia, Kentucky and Kansas northward. 



The Wood Thrush is an abundant summer resident of southern and 

 middle Michigan, but appears to be somewhat local in its distribution; 

 in some places it is entirely unknown, while half a dozen miles away it 

 may be abundant. As a rule it seems to prefer an uneven country, with 

 abrupt ridges and valleys, and it shows a decided preference for hardwoods 

 and the vicinity of small streams, being rarely found in the evergreen 

 forests and seldom in level regions. In spite of the fact that the bird is 

 generally considered a southern species, there is some evidence to show 

 that it occurs, at least occasionally, in nearly the whole of Michigan, being 

 absent entirely only from the northernmost parts of the Upper Peninsula. 



Up to the parallel of 44° it may be considered a fairly common summer 

 resident in suitable locations, yet Mr. Newell A. Eddy, after many years 

 of careful observation in various parts of the Upper Peninsula, states 

 that he has never found it in that region. On the other hand. Dr. Gibbs 

 found it abundant in beech and maple woods about Howard City, Montcalm 

 county, in 1882 and 1883, Chanev records it from Mason county in 1909 

 (Auk,^ XXVII, 1910, 278), and Dr. R. H. Wolcott found it in summer 

 in Charlevoix county, though not in numbers. Wood & Frothingham 

 found it common in Oscoda county July 4 and 15, and a single one was 

 seen in Crawford county September 9. Mr. Stewart E. White states that 

 it was not present on Mackinac Island in the summer of 1889, but was a 

 common summer resident there in 1890 and 1891. Miss H. H. Wright 

 reports parent birds feeding young in Iosco county the last of June, 1907. 

 Mr. F. H. Chapin has seen it in Emmet, Cheboygan and Charlevoix counties 

 in August and September, while on the other hand Mr. Otto Widmann, 

 during a two week's residence in Emmet county in July, failed to find the 

 bird, and the writer, who spent June, July and August 1904 in Emmet 

 and Charlevoix counties, did not obtain the slightest evidence of its presence. 

 There is a single lighthouse record, a specimen having been killed on 

 Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, ]\Iay 21, 1885, and Brewster and Dwight 

 took specimens near Cadillac, Wexford county, and Oden, Emmet county, 

 in May 1888. Dr. W. H. Dunham states that in Kalkaska county he 

 has found several nests of this species every year, and says: "In fact, I 

 believe they breed here as abundantly as in Wayne county, Oakland 

 county or Ottawa county" (August 1906). 



The records from the Upper Peninsula are less satisfactory, 3^et it seems 

 hardly possible that all observers who report this species can be entirely 



