The Wood Thrush 



By \V. Leon Dawson 



l\an«4c. l-.;i>tcrii L'niti'tl States to the I'lains, north to southern Michigan, 

 Ontario, and Massachusetts; south in winter to Guatemala and Cuha. FJrccds 

 from \"ir^inia. Kentucky and Kansas northward. 



.\hh() all of our Thrushes are retiritiij in di^i)ositioii, the Wood Thrush, 

 perhaps because of his larger size, is the least sm. Tiie depths of the forest, 

 indec<l, claim him. Init so too do the shaded lawns of village streets and city 

 l>arks. In his woodland homo this Thrush does not tlee as tho a price had 

 been ^^t•t upon bis head, but often comes forward — not too close — with a pit of 

 iufjuiry and greeting. 



The Wood Thrush spends considerable time on the ground looking for 

 beetles and worms, but he is ready at a moment's notice to flutter up on a log 

 or low branch, and stand there surveying you, flirting, or twinkling, the wings 

 occasionally to indicate his perfect readiness for further retreat, or else ruffling 

 and shaking his feathers as tho to shake off the memory of the mold. A false 

 step now and he may disappear irrevocably down some forest isle ; a quiet glance 

 of admiration serves to reasure him, and he may resume his feeding. 



There is an air of gentleness and good breeding about the bird, which goes 

 a long way to disarm a wanton enemy, and one studiously hostile there could 

 not be. Brighter than the other Thrushes in color, and marked unmistakably 

 with heavy spots upon breast and sides, the Wood Thrush is further dis- 

 tinguished in a gifted family by its wonderful voice. The chanting of the W^ood 

 Thrush is one of the choice things in bird music. In the freshness of the undried 

 morning the bird mounts a low limb and takes up a part in the grand anthem 

 of nature, whose complementary voices may be lost to any ear less fine than his. 

 The birds listens to the retreating foot-steps of the morning stars, and sings "Far 

 azcay — far azcay." Zephyr stirs the unfolding leaves with his boyish alto and our 

 matchless tenor responds, "Come to mc — Here in glee — bide a zvec," in cadences of- 

 surpassing sweetness. Altho the singer's voice is rich and strong, so that he may 

 be heard at times for half a mile, there are at the same time grace notes and 

 finer passages which only a near-by listener can catch. The notes, I am told 

 by musical critics, are, of all bird notes, the most nearly reducible to ordinary 

 musical notation ; but the peculiar timbre of the bird's voice, the rich vibrant 

 quality of the tones, is of course inimitable. Their utterance at morning and 

 evening is something more than a clever musical performance ; it is worship. 



The typical situation for a nest is upon an overarching sapling, as shown in 

 the nearest illustration. To secure a romantic site stability is sometimes sacri- 

 ficed, and the nest, loosely saddled upon a narrow branch, may be toppled over 

 by the wind or by a careless hand. At other times the nest is securely lodged 

 upon the forks of a horizontal limb or upright sapling, and may prove very 

 durable. 



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