THRUSHES 



The distinctive characteristic of the \'eery's 

 tone is a pecuHar resonant quahty. very Hke that 

 produced by whisthng into a lonij. metal tube of. 

 say, a foot in diameter. Kesonance in some de- 

 gree is not an uncommon quality in the tunes nf 

 several of the Thrushes, notably the Hermit ; but 

 it is the prevailing characteristic in the \ eery's 

 song. Nor is there any common liird whose 

 vocalization involves such a jx-rfectly adjusted 

 tremolo effect, as dainty and innocent of ap- 

 parent effort as the ripples which greet the light- 

 est zephyr from the surface of a motionless pool. 



The song has been likened to a " spiral, treiu- 

 ulous, silver thread of music," and has been re]i- 

 resented by means of connected spirals in a inii- 

 formly descending line. The " spiral " idea i> 

 accurate, though it should be elaborated by the 

 explanation that each curve is in the form of a 

 finelv shaded and evenly di\'ided crescendu and 

 diminuendo. The singer frequently begins by 

 repeating this curve once, followed by three 

 more renditions, and those by two more, each 

 group being distinct ( though the rest interval 

 is very brief), and at a pitch slightly lower than 

 the preceding one. Furthermore the entire song 

 is in diminuendo, the last notes being noticeably 

 softer than the first. In this respect the song is 

 exactly the reverse of the Oven-bird's, which 

 begins with the lowest note and increases con- 

 sistently in volume and pitch to the final and 

 highest one. The Warbler's tone, however, lacks 

 the tremolo and resonant qualities of the 

 Thrush's. 



Ernest Thompson Seton has said that while 

 it seems almost profane to represent this faint, 

 soft, silvery tinkling of the Veerv's song bv un- 

 couth syllables, yet he thought the best idea of 

 the mere articulation would be suggested bv the 

 syllables vccro, vccry, vccry. vccrw from which 

 no doubt the singer got its name. 



During the nesting season the Veery frequents 

 the woodlands almost exclusively and conse- 

 quently its work is not of any great value to 

 farmer or fruit-grower. It gets most of its food 

 from the ground and like all Thrushes it feeds 

 largely upon beetles, snails, and a great variety 

 of insects and small fruits whenever obtainable. 



rile \'eery confinc^s its fruit- food alnmsl exclu- 

 si\-ely to wild fruit and cannot be considered in 

 anv wa\- injurious. 



the 'Willow Thrush { I ! yl„c!clila fiiscrsccns 

 salicicfila } is a form of ihe \'eer\- which i> ;i 

 little duller in coloration, the brown of the ujiper 



NEST AND EGGS OF VEERY 

 Usually placed on or near the ground 



[)arts less tawny and the brown streaks on the 

 upper chest and the sides of the lower throat 

 averaging slightly darker. It l.ireeds from south- 

 ern British Columbia, central .\lberta, central 

 !>askatchewan, an<l southern Manitolia south to 

 central Oregon, Nevada, Utah, northern Xew 

 Mexico, and central Iowa: it winters in South 

 .•\merica, south to Brazil. 



GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH 

 Hylocichla aliciae alicix {Baird) 



A. n. V. N'Hmber 75 



Other Name. — .Mice's Tlirusli. 



General Description. — LeiiRth, 7'4 iiulics. Upper 

 parts, grayish-olivc : iiiuler parts, wliitish with srayish- 

 diisky spots. Hill, ahnut 'j length oi head, slender. 



See Culur Plate 105 



Kradnally and increasingly curved downward toward 

 the tip : wings, ratlier long and pointed : tail, not more 

 than '4 length of wing, even, the feathers slightly 

 ^harpened at tlic extreme tip : legs, long and slender. 



