232 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In Minnesota, according to Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932), "it is 

 an inhabitant of low, damp woodlands, preferring especially tamarack 

 swamps and thickets of poplar, willow, and alder, bordering streams 

 and lakes. With the destruction of such conditions in southern 

 Minnesota, the Willow Thrush, as a summer resident, has there 

 greatly decreased in numbers in recent years; but in the north it is 

 still one of the commonest of birds and its ringing song may be heard 

 until mid- July, coming from all suitable places." 



Nesting. — Dr. Roberts (1932) says that, in Minnesota, the nests of 

 the willow thrush are placed "on the ground, sunk in the top of a 

 mossy hummock; or near the ground, supported among alders or 

 willows; or on tangled vines or fallen branches; often on the top of a 

 stump among thick 'shoots.' Built of grasses, bark-fibers, small 

 twigs, and moss, lined with fine grasses, rootlets, etc. No mud is 

 used." 



In Colorado, Denis Gale took only one nest of this thrush; "it was 

 placed about three feet above the ground, in a low evergreen bush in a 

 shady and wooded canon" (Sclater, 1912). Dawson and Bowles 

 (1909) report a nest taken near Spokane, Wash., that "was placed in 

 the crotch of an alder at a height of two feet." 



Eggs. — The willow thrush lays three to five eggs to a set, usually 

 four. These are practically indistinguishable from those of the eastern 

 veery. At least three sets of eggs have been reported in which some 

 or all of them were spotted with fine dots or minute specks of dark or 

 light brown or olive, usually sparingly and more or less obscurely. 

 The measurements of 38 eggs average 22.9 by 16.9 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 25.0 by 16.8, 23.4 by 18.0, 

 20.8 by 16.8, and 22.9 by 15.8 millimeters. 



Food. — The food of this thrush is doubtless quite similar to that of 

 the closely related veery. Professor Beal (1915b) reported on the 

 food of the two subspecies together. Mr. Potter writes to me from 

 Saskatchewan: "In the spring of 1907, when range cattle lay dead 

 in hundreds all over the western plains after a long hard winter, I 

 obtained my best close-up views of willow thrushes which used to 

 feed on maggots in a certain dead cow lying close to some willow bush. 

 After a full meal, a thrush would be too glutted to do more than flop 

 back to cover, if I got too close." 



The general behavior of the willow thrush does not differ much 

 from that of its eastern relative. Its voice is similar and it sings from 

 within the thickets in which it lives, rather than from some loftier 

 perch. 



Dr. Friedmann (1929) mentions three cases in which this thrush 

 was imposed upon by the Nevada cowbird; and, again (1934), he tells 



