THRUSHES 



227 



of fine rootlets and grasses. Eggs: 3 or 4, plain 

 greenish-blue, like the Veery's and intermediate in size 

 between that bird's and the Robin's. 



Distribution. — Eastern temperate North .America; 

 north to New Hampshire i W'liite Mountains). Xevv 

 York (breeding at Lake George), northern Ontario, 

 northern Michigan, etc., accidentally to Maine and 



northeastern New York; west to middle portion of 

 Great Plains (along wooded valleys); breeding south- 

 ward to northern Morida and thence westward through 

 Gulf States to eastern Te.xas ; in winter southward 

 through eastern Me.xico and Central America to Nica- 

 ragua and Costa Rica, also to Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, 

 and Porto Rico ; straggler to the Uermudas. 



The Wood Thrush is unlike any other woods- 

 dwelHng member of his famous family in the 

 respect that, though deep woods are his natural 

 and generally preferred abiding place, he fre- 

 quently makes his home near human habitations. 

 He seems never to become domesticated in the 

 degree that the Robins and the Bluebirds do and 

 his demeanor is always more shy and retiring 

 than theirs. Nevertheless he is often foiuid 

 conducting his family affairs in the sliaile trees 

 or shrubbery very near the homes of men, and 

 so he becomes much better known to them than 

 do the Hermit, the Olive-backed, the Veery, ami 

 the other Thrushes who remain essentially birds 

 of the woods. He is, besides, the handsome>t 

 member of his tribe, and has withal the most 

 elegant manners. 



It is generally too fanciftil to find resemlilances 

 between bird notes and spoken words. Intt no 

 one with an ear for time and tune can deiu' that 

 bird songs may — by coincidence, of course — 

 repeat known inusical phrases. So sane and ac- 

 curate an observer as Herbert K. job finds in the 

 phrase of the \\'ood Thrush a distinct suggestion 

 of "the opening appeal in A\'eher's 'Invitation 

 to the Dance,' and again the ' sweetlv solemn 

 thought ' of Handel's ' Largo ' from ' Xerxes." " 

 Another bird lover says that to his ear, two suc- 

 cessive renditions of the Wood Thrtish's phrase, 

 if the second is pitched at the usual interval 

 above the first, reproduce very closely the first 

 two phrases of Faust's beautiful a]:ipeal to Mar- 

 guerite I in the garden ) , when he sings : 



*l 



13 



S 



m 



1 



These two ])hrases are all that are claimed for 

 the Thrush, and the pause between them is, of 

 course, much longer than is the time value of 

 the quarter-rest, according to the usual tempo 

 of Gounod's music; but otherwise the phrases. 

 in their intervals, strongly suggest Fatist's im- 

 passioned address. We need not strain the 

 probabilities by fancying that Gotinod mav have 

 •borrowed the song of our Thrush, but we mav, 



at least, take a little pride in the fact that ottr 

 woods had heard and learned to love this song 

 centuries before the great French comiioser put 



Photo by II. IC. Job I , .,Mt. ,s 01 Oi.tini; Pub. Co. 



WOOD THRtlSH INCUBATING 



much the same music into one of his sweetest 

 melodies. 



The food of this bird con-ists largely of in- 

 sects, with a small percentage of fruit. The 

 insects eaten inckide grasshopjiers. crickets, cut- 

 worms, ants, caterpillars, and beetles, including 

 the potato beetle. The fruit consumed is 

 chiefly of wild varieties, such as frost grapes, 

 wild blackberries, wild cherries, and the seeds 

 of the spice bush and southern magnolia. Since 

 the \\'ood Thrush is a decidedly useful species 

 and adapts itself readily to civilized surround- 

 ings, its presence about the farm and garden 

 should always be encouraged. 



George Gl.\dden. 



