VARIED THRUSH (Ixoreus nevius) 
Length, about 10 inches. Its large size and 
dark slate-colored upper parts, black breast col- 
lar, orange brown stripe over eye, and orange 
brown under parts mark this thrush apart from 
all others. 
Range: Breeds on the Pacific coast from 
Yakutat Bay, Alaska, south to Humboldt 
County, California; winters from southern 
Alaska to northern California. 
This, one of our largest and finest thrushes, 
is limited to the west coast, where it finds a 
congenial summer home in the depths of the 
coniferous forests, the mystery and loneliness 
of which seem reflected in its nature. Although 
the varied thrush somewhat suggests our robin, 
it is much shyer, and its habits and notes are 
very different, making it more nearly akin to 
the small olive thrushes. It nests in the coni- 
fers, and its eggs, unlike those of the robin, 
are heavily blotched with brown. Its song, a 
single long-drawn note, has been greatly 
praised and seems entirely in harmony with 
the bird’s surroundings, being weird and inspir- 
ing. In winter the varied thrush abandons the 
forest, and with it many of the habits of the 
recluse, and visits more open districts, includ- 
ing ravines and even gardens, where it becomes 
quite familiar. 
This thrush, like its smaller brethren, feeds 
chiefly on the ground, and its food is largely 
of vegetable nature, but includes a fair propor- 
tion of insects, with millepeds and snails. Un- 
less its habits are greatly modified by the en- 
croachment of civilization on its domain, it is 
not likely to be much of a factor in agricultural 
affairs, but it will continue to make itself use- 
ful by destroying the insect enemies of forest 
trees. 
VEERY (Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens) 
Length, about 7% inches. To be known from 
the other small thrushes by its uniform cinna- 
mon brown upper parts and its faint brown 
breast markings. 
Range: Breeds from northern Michigan, cen- 
tral Ontario, and Newfoundland south to 
northern Illinois, northern Indiana, northern 
Ohio, and New Jersey, and in the Alleghenies 
south to North Carolina and northern Georgia; 
winters in South America. 
Far more retiring than either the wood 
thrush or the hermit, the veery must be sought 
in the seclusion of the swamp or swampy 
woodland, far from the recesses of which he 
rarely ventures. Much of his time he spends 
on the ground, for on or near it he finds his 
chosen fare. Though trim in form and clad in 
a garb of modest color as befits his nature, the 
veery appeals less to the bird lover’s eye than 
to his ear. Though some of his relatives are 
classed among the most famous of American 
songsters, the veery may fairly claim place in 
the front rank, and his wild, mysterious, and 
all-pervading notes touch certain chords in the 
human breast which respond to the song of no 
other of our birds. 
The food of the veery does not differ essen- 
tially from that of the other thrushes and in- 
cludes a great variety of wild fruits and in- 
sects. 
26 
WOOD THRUSH (Hylocichla mustelina) 
Length, about 8% inches. To be distin- 
guished among its fellows by its more bulky 
form, by the golden brown head, bright cinna- 
mon upper parts, and the large round black 
spots beneath, sharply contrasting with the pure 
white. 
Range: Breeds from southern South Dakota, 
central Minnesota, central Wisconsin, southern 
Ontario, and southern New Hampshire south 
to eastern Texas, Louisiana, and northern 
Florida; winters from southern Mexico to 
Central America. 
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 ob- 
tains 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, in- 
cluding the Colorado potato beetle. Thus the 
bird deserves a high place in our esteem for 
both esthetic and economic reasons. 
BUSH-TIT (Psaltriparus minimus and 
subspecies) 
Length, from 4 to 4% inches. 
Range: Pacific coast from southern British 
Columbia to the Cape Region of Lower Cali- 
fornia, and eastward to the interior of Oregon 
and California; nests generally throughout its 
range. 
This pigmy among birds has many of the 
characteristic habits of the chickadee family, 
of which it is the smallest member. Extremely 
sociable, bush-tits move about in large flocks, 
occasionally in company with other birds, gen- 
erally without. One moment you are alone, the 
next moment the trees and bushes are full of 
these diminutive little busybodies that scan you 
with their curious bead-like eyes as they hurry 
on in quest of food, keeping up the while a 
constant calling and twittering. Their pendant 
nests, often attached to oak trees, suggest the 
well-known structure of our hang-bird or Bal- 
timore oriole and are excellent specimens of 
bird architecture. 
The few Western States favored by the pres- 
ence of this bird are to be congratulated, as 
more than half its animal food consists of in- 
sects and spiders, nearly all of which are harm- 
ful. 
