30 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
or five, and like those of the Robin, but smaller, measuring 
1:10—1-00-70 of an inch. Those of the first set are usually 
laid near Boston in the last week of May—those of the second, 
if any, in the early part of July. 
(c). The Wood Thrushes probably represent the highest 
type among birds; excelling all others, except their immediate 
relatives, in details of structure, in the quiet beauty of their 
coloration, and in the refinement of their habits; and they are 
certainly to be ranked among the finest singers of the world. 
Though possessed of comparatively little power of flight, 
yet the Wood Thrushes, like most other birds, migrate very 
far (more than a thousand miles),—about the tenth of May 
reaching Massachusetts, to the northward of which, in New 
England, they rarely go. But they are common in southern 
New England from the time of their arrival until that of their 
departure in September or October ; during the summer-months 
inhabiting groves and woods of various kinds, oftenest, per- 
haps, those which are swampy or of low growth. In such 
places they build their nest and rear their young, and there 
obtain the necessary supply of insect-food, either from the 
ground, over which they can run with some rapidity, or from 
the bushes and trees, among which they move with such leisure 
and dignified grace as would become a prince. The most con- 
spicuous feature in the Natural History of these birds is the 
apparent modesty and the actual love of privacy or solitude, 
which they generally, though not invariably possess. These 
lend a charm to the study of their habits and their music, but 
they also cause difficulty in acquiring an intimacy with them,— 
a difficulty, however, which can be overcome. Though the 
Wood Thrushes are so fond of individuality and retirement, 
that they are never properly gregarious, and that they prefer 
retreats in woodland, where they are unlikely to be disturbed, 
to all other suitable haunts, yet they often build their nests in 
quite conspicuous places, and frequent the immediate neigh- 
borhood of man. Nor are they then more shy than under 
other circumstances,—in fact, the female is generally prompted 
by instinctive motherliness to sit as bravely on her nest, when 
