BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



31* 



Allen 1 observed one at West Manchester on November 16th, 1902. There are 

 a number of other records of this bird for the State. 



311 [755] Hylocichla mustelina (Grael.). 



Wood Thrush. 



Common summer resident; May n to September 16; average date of 

 arrival for five years, May 14. 



Eggs: May 25 to June 15. 



I cannot pass this bird by without adding a slight tribute to the beauty of 

 its song. Heard in the depths of the woods in the stillness of a summer's even- 

 ing or amid the chorus of bird-voices in the early morning, the song of the Wood 

 Thrush is always a source of pure delight. 



312 [756] Hylocichla fuscescens (Steph.). 

 Wilson's Thrush ; Veery. 



Abundant summer resident ; May 1 to September 15. 

 Eggs : May 20 to June 30. 



The average date of arrival is about May 7th. Mr. C. E. Brown took one in 

 Beverly, May 1st, 1904, and it is now in the collection of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History. 



This is by far the most common of the genus Hylocichla in Essex County 

 and its delightful song is to be heard everywhere along the rivers. Dr. T. M. 

 Brewer 2 reported a nest of this Thrush found in Lynn at a height of twenty- 

 five feet from the ground. Mr. Laurence Brooks, on May 30th, 1904, found at 

 Wenham eight nests of the Wilson's Thrush, all within the space of some two 

 or three acres, — a thrush colony, as it were. The nests were all in or on beech 

 stumps and each contained four eggs. One set had the usual ground color but 

 the eggs were spotted and blotched with brown. In 1902, a Wilson's Thrush 

 built within twelve yards of a camp on an island in the Topsfield marshes. 

 They are usually very tame. 



1 F. H. Allen : Auk, vol. 20, p. 69, 1903. 



2 T. M. Brewer: Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. 3, p. 193, 1878. 





