8 . NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Eepertorio, 1865, 228. — Maynakd. — Samuels, 146. Turdus melodn.% Wils. Am. 

 Oni. I, 1808, 35, pi. ii. J'urdus deusws, Bo.nap. Coniptes Itendus, XXVIII, 1853, 2. 

 — Ib. Notes Delattre, 1854, 26 (Tabasco). 

 Additional figures : Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, pi. l.xii. — Wilson, Am. Orn. I, pi. ii. 



Sp. Char. Above clear cinnamon-brown, on the top of the head becoming more 

 rufous, on the rumji and tail olivaceous. The under parts are clear ■white, sometimes 

 tinged with buft' on the breast or anteriorly, and thickly marked beneath, except on the 

 chin and throat and about the vent and tail-coverts, with sub-triangular, sharply defined 

 spots of blackish. The sides of the head are dark brown, streaked with white, and there 

 is also a maxillary series of streaks on each side of the throat, the central portion of which 

 sometimes has indications of small spots. Length, 8.10 inches; wing, 4.25; tail, 3.05; 

 tarsus, 1.26. Young bird similar to adult, but with rusty yellow triangular spots in the 

 ends of the wing coverts. 



Hab. U. S. east of Missouri plains, south to Guatemala. Bermuda (not rare). Cuba, 

 La Sagra; Gundlach. Honduras, Moore. Cordova, Scl. Orizaba (winter), Sumiciir. 



Habits. The Wood Thrusli, witliout Leing anywhere a very abundant 

 species, is common throttghout nearly every portion of the United States 

 between the Mississippi Eiver and the Atlantic. It breeds in every 

 portion of the same extended area, at least as far as Georgia on the south 

 and Massachusetts on the north. Beyond the last-named State, it rarely, 

 if ever, breeds on the coast. In the interior it has a higher range, nesting 

 around Hamilton, C. W. So far as I am aware it is unknown, or very rare, 

 in the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 



It makes its appeai'ance early in April in the Middle States, but in New 

 England not until four or five weeks later, appearing about the 10th of IN'Iay. 

 Their migrations in fall are more irregular, being apparently determined by 

 the abundance of their Ibod. At times they depart as early as the first 

 of September, but sometimes not until the last of October. It winters 

 in Central America, where it is quite abundant at that season. 



The favorite localities of the Wood Thrush are the borders of dense 

 thickets, or low damp hollows shaded by large trees. Yet its habits are 

 by no means so retiring, or its nature so timid, as these places of resort 

 would lead us to infer. A small grove in Eoxbury, now a part of Boston, 

 in close pjroximity to a dwelling-house, was for many years the favorite 

 resort of these birds, where several pairs nested and reared their young, 

 rarely even leaving their nests, which were mostly in low bushes, wholly 

 unmindful of the curious children who were their frequent visitors. The 

 same fearless familiarity was observed at jMount Auburn, then first used 

 as a public cemetery. But in the latter instance the nest was always 

 placed high up on a branch of some spreading tree, often in conspicuous 

 places, but out of reach. Mr. J. A. Allen refers to several similar instances 

 where the Wood Thrush did not show itself to be such a recluse as many 

 describe it. In one case a pair built their nest within the limits of a 

 thickly peopled village, where there were but few trees, and a scanty 

 undergrowth. In another a Wood Thrush lived for several successive 

 summers among the elms and maples of Court Square m the city of 



