BIRDS OF AMERICA 



VEERY 

 Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens (Stephens) 



A. O. U. Number 756 See Color Plate 105 



Other Names. — Wilson's Thrush: Tawny Thrush; 

 Ni.<,'htingale. 



General Description. — Length, 7^4 inches. Upper 

 parts, tavvny-brovvn ; under parts, buff and white, 

 streaked and spotted with dark. Bill, about ^ length 

 of head, slender, gradually and increasingly curved 

 downward toward the tip ; wings, rather long and 

 pointed; tail, not more than 34 length of wing, even, 

 the feathers slightly sharpened at the extreme tip ; legs, 

 long and slender. 



Color. — Above, plain tawny-brown, the wings and 

 tail slightly duller brown, especially the former ; lores, 

 dull grayish-white ; eyelids, similar, the color not fonn- 

 iiifi a distinct cyc-ring : sides of head, rather light 

 dull tawny-brown, narrowly streaked with dull brown- 

 ish-white ; cheeks dull buffy-white, becoming decidedly 

 buffy behind, where streaked with tawny-brown : chin 

 and throat huffy-white, (/radiially l^assing into pate 

 buff on chest, the latter tinged with brown laterally; 

 the upper chest and sides of lower throat, streaked with 

 tawny-brown ; the lower chest, spotted with a paler 



and slightly grayer tint of the same; sides and flanks 

 light buffy-grayish ; the sides of breast sometimes 

 faintly spotted with a darker shade of the same; rest 

 of under parts, white; bill, dark horn color, the basal 

 half below pale grayish-flesh color; iris, dark brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : At base of bush or small 

 tree; made of leaves, strips of grapevine or other bark, 

 weed stems, and roots, and lined with fine rootlets or 

 grass; nests have been found in tree hollows fifteen 

 feet from the ground, but the usual location is on or 

 near the ground. Eggs : 3 to 5, plain greenish-blue, 

 like a small Robin's egg. 



Distribution. — Eastern North .America ; breeding 

 from northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northern 

 Ohio, northern Indiana, northern Illinois, central Iowa, 

 and southeastern South Dakota, northward to New- 

 foundland. Magdalen Islands, and Ontario, and south- 

 ward along the Allegheny Mountains to western North 

 Carolina (3500-5000 feet); wintering in South Caro- 

 lina (?). Florida (?), Cuba, coast of Yucatan, Costa 

 Rica, Panama, and northern South America. 



The Veery is essentially a bird of the deep 

 woods and the " silent places." He is fully as 

 shy as the Hermit, while his song heightens the 

 impression of mystery produced by his evident 

 desire to avoid notice. Indeed, comparatively 

 few persons certainly identify the song with the 

 singer. A reprint of the American Oniitlioloc/y, 

 by \\ ilson and Bonaparte ( a real Bonaparte, and 



writing about birds!), with poorly executed 

 wood-cuts after Wilson's fine drawings, was a 

 standard work as late as 1885, but not a word 

 is there in it about the Veery ! For, as we know 

 now, the very man, Alexander Wilson, in whose 

 honor the bird is often called " Wilson's Thrush," 

 seems himself never to have heard the unique 

 and beautiful song of this bird. 



Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist 

 VEERY (J nat. size) 

 A bird of the deep woods and silent places 



