Wood Thrush. 215 



this wood flowed a creek whose waters becamo quite 

 shallow before the close of the summer, and whose banks 

 were overhung by long, horizontal branches of sturdy 

 hard maples, soft maples, and elms. In this wild retreat, 

 through the mating and nesting season, the clear ringing 

 notes of the wood thrushes arose from dawn till dusk, the 

 birds flitting here and there in the gloomy shade, and 

 living the ideal life of true woodsmen. In the low thorn 

 trees and on the drooping boughs of the hard maples they 

 made their homes and reared their broods, unmolested 

 except by such natural enemies as instinct warned them to 

 evade. I met them in town also on their fall and spring 

 migration, among the garden trees and upon the grassy 

 lawns, and along the hedgerows of suburban homes. 



In respect to the route of migration, the wood thrush 

 differs from the hermit thrush, which makes its migratory 

 journeys through the woods, and commonly shuns the 

 towns. The wood thrush does not appear to turn aside 

 from the towns for its places of refreshment on its north- 

 ward and southward journeys. Whenever I met it, it 

 was usually alone, and I therefore concluded that it is not 

 disposed to seek company even among its own kith and 

 kin. Since I learned to recognize its trim, graceful figure, 

 and its short, quick call, I have remarked the wood thrush 

 in my native village, in the large elms and maples along 

 the streets, even to the last of June, usually solitary, and 

 frequently silent, except in its note of alarm. It is not 

 always silent in town, however, and in May its perfect 

 song can often be heard. When the growth of hard maples 

 in the cities and the shady nooks of parks induce it to 

 take up its summer residence, its flate-like music is heard 

 regularly in all its richness and melody. It is peculiarly 

 at home in the dark, deep woodlands of our river bottoms, 

 where it pours out its few notes with surpassing sweetness 

 and richness of quality, inimitable by other birds, and 

 faulty only in the briefness of the strains. 



It is perhaps true that few persons, except the trained 

 observers of bird-life, know the wood thrush, though many 

 people have heard its melodious voice and recognize it as 

 belonging to our deeper woodland choir. It should have 

 a wider circle of acquaintance, for in the parks of cities 



