WOOD THRUSH 103 



been reported for New York on April 9 and 12. They progress north- 

 ward rapidly and by the end of April are seen in Connecticut, and by 

 May 19 they have already reached the northern limits of their range. 

 They have been reported from Vermont, Nova Scotia, and New 

 Brunswick. 



In the Mississippi Valley, in spring, wood thrushes appear in the 

 United States between March 26 and 30. (Audubon seems to be the 

 source of statements saying that the wood thrush winters in south- 

 ern Louisiana, but more recent studies do not bear him out in this.) 

 Ten days later they have usually advanced northward to Dunklin 

 County, Mo.; in the next 10 days up to April 20 they have advanced 

 to the parallel of St. Louis; by April 30 they have reached Glen 

 Ellyn, 111.; by May 10 they average northward as far as London, 

 Ontario; and in the next 10 days they reach the northern boundary 

 of their range. 



For the western part of then range, we have very few records for 

 the early spring months. The birds reach the southern limits of the 

 western flyway about April 1 and advance northward to the 44th 

 parallel and westward to the 102d meridian by May 10. 



In summarizing, we find that wood thrushes appear earliest in 

 the Atlantic Coast States and move northward there earlier than in 

 the Mississippi Valley or west of it. The speed of the advance, 

 however, is greater in the Mississippi section than east or west of it. 

 In the western flyway, the birds are slow in moving northward, but 

 they do not move as far northward as in the other two flyway s. 



Courtship and territory. — According to my observations, borne out 

 by those of Brackbill (1943), the male arrives in the territory he 

 chooses and stays there waiting for his mate to arrive. In one case, 

 which I was able to watch from the moment of arrival, the male 

 arrived first and the female two days later. These two birds were 

 ending in their courtship performance on this second day. A banded 

 male came back to the same territory for three years in succession. 

 The choice of the actual nesting site seems to be made by the female. 

 She was seen to alight upon a branch, hop to a crotch, stick her head 

 barely above the leaves, and turn around several times. This par- 

 ticular spot was not chosen, however, so this may have been of no 

 significance. 



The territory of the wood thrush may be as small as one-fifth of an 

 acre or as large as two acres. 



In defense of this territory the wood thrushes I studied seemed to 

 vary in their reactions. To birds smaller than themselves they 

 appeared to pay little attention. Birds that disturbed the thrushes 

 most were other wood thrushes, veeries, and robins, although even 



