THE BIRD BOOK 



: 'F" 



753. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. 

 optila californica. 



Poli- 



&& 



Blue-gray Gi 



Range. — Pacific coast of southern California 

 and northern Lower California. 



This bird is very similar to the last but has 

 still less white on the outer tail feathers. Like 

 the last, the nests of this spe- 

 cies usually lack the exterior 

 covering of lichens, being made 

 of vegetable fibres and plant 

 down, firmly quilted together and 

 saddled on horizontal limbs or 

 placed in forks of trees at any Grayish whlte 

 height from the ground. Their eggs are grayish 

 white, specked with bright reddish brown. 

 Size .55 x .44. Data. — Escondido, Cal., May 17, 

 1903. 5 eggs. Nest on a large limb of a syca- 

 more, 30 feet above ground; made of weed 

 fibres, etc., lined with hair and fine fibres. 



THRUSHES, SOLITAIRES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. Family TURDIDAE 



754. Townsend's Solitaire. Myadestes townsendi. 



Range. — Western United States, breeding from Arizona, New Mexico and 



southern California north to British Columbia. 



This unique species is of a uniform brownish gray color, with a white eye 

 ring, narrow bar on wing, and outer tail feathers, and 

 with the bases of the primaries rusty colored. It is a 

 ground inhabiting bird, feeding upon insects and berries 

 in shrubbery and thickets. Their song is said to be liquid, 

 melodious and often long continued, equalling that of any 

 other bird. They nest on the ground in hollows under 

 banks or crevices about roots of trees or fallen stumps, 

 making a large, loosely constructed pile of weeds and 

 trash, hollowed and lined with rootlets. The three or 

 four eggs, which are laid in June, are grayish white, 



spotted with pale brown, chiefly or most abundantly about the large end. Size 



.96 x .70. 



Grayish white 



755. Wood Thrush. Hylocichla mustelina. 



Range. — Eastern United States, breeding from North Carolina and Kansas 

 north to northern United States; winters south of our borders. 



This Thrush with his brightly spotted breast is the most handsome of this 

 group of musical birds. They are common in damp woods 

 and thickets, in which places they breed, placing their 

 nests of straw, leaves and grasses in low trees usually be- 

 tween four and ten feet from the ground; their nests are 

 often very rustic, being ornamented by pieces of paper 

 and twigs with dead leaves attached handing from the 

 sides of the quite bulky structures. During May or June 

 they lay three or four greenish blue eggs of about the 

 shade of a Robin's. Size 1.05 x .70. 



442 



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