The Wood Thrush {Hylodchla musteUna) 

 By Alexander Wilson 



Length : 71/2 to 8^ inches. 



Range: Eastern United States to the Plains north to Michigan, Canada 

 and Massachusetts. 



The wood thrush finds its way to our hearts and sympathies more through 

 its voice than its presence, and whoever has failed to hear its clear flute-like 

 tones rising from the woodland depths as the mists of evening gather has missed 

 a rich treat. It is no doubt true that the Hermit Thrush is a more finished 

 performer, but that chorister reserves his music chiefly for the northern wilds 

 while our wood thrush favors more southern lands. Moreover, the hermit 

 is a true recluse and must be sought in the deeper forest, its chosen home, while 

 its more southern cousin lives in comparatively open woodland and does not 

 disdain to take up its summer residence in parks and gardens. The music of 

 the one is for the favored few, while the song of the other is almost as well 

 known as that of the brown thrasher. 



Like most of the tribe, the wood thrush obtains its food chiefly from the 

 ground, where it spends much of its time searching among the leaves. Insects 

 with a small percentage of fruit, chiefly wild varieties, compose its fare. Among 

 the insects are cutworms and other caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers and beetles, 

 including the Colorado potato beetle. Thus the l)ird deserves a high place in our 

 esteem for both esthetic and economic reasons. 



This sweet and solitary songster arrives about the twentieth of April, or soon 

 after, and returns to the South about the beginning of October. At whatever 

 time he may appear, he soon announces his presence in the woods. With the 

 dawn of the succeeding morning, mounting to the top of some tall tree, he pipes 

 his few but clear and musical notes in a kind of ecstasy, the prelude to which 

 strongly resembles the double tonguing of a German flute, or sometimes the tink- 

 ling of a small bell. The whole song consists of five or six parts, the last note of 

 each of which is such a tone as to leave the conclusion evidently suspended ; the 

 finale is finely managed, and with such charming effect as to soothe and tran- 

 quilize the mind and to seem swe(;ter and more mellow at each successive repe- 

 tition. 



Rival songsters of the same species challenge each other from different parts 

 of the woods, seeming to vie for softer tones and more exquisite responses. Dur- 

 ing the burning heat of the day they are comparatively mute ; but in the evening 

 the same melody is renewed and continued long after sunset. Those who visit 

 our woods or ride out into the country at these hours, during May and June, will 

 be at no loss to recognize, from the above description, this pleasing musician. 

 Even in dark, wet, and gloomy weather, when scarce a single chirp is heard from 

 any other bird the clear notes of the Wood Thrush thrill through the forest from 



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