Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



entangled in the wild grape-vines twined about the saplings 

 and underbrush, still sings to us from unapproachable tangles. 

 Plainly, if we want to see the bird, we must let it seek us out on 

 the fallen log where we have sunk exhausted in the chase. 



Presently a brown bird scuds through the fern. It is a 

 thrush, you guess in a minute, from its slender, graceful body. 

 At first you notice no speckles on its breast, but as it comes 

 nearer, obscure arrow-heads are visible — not heavy, heart-shaped 

 spots such as plentifully speckle the larger wood thrush or the 

 smaller hermit. It is the smallest of the three commoner thrushes, 

 and it lacks the ring about the eye that both the others have. 

 Shy and elusive, it slips away again in a most unfriendly fashion, 

 and is lost in the wet tangle before you have become acquainted. 

 You determine, however, before you leave the log, to cultivate 

 the acquaintance of this bird the next spring, when, before it 

 mates and retreats to the forest, it comes boldly into the gardens 

 and scratches about in the dry leaves on the ground for the lurk- 

 ing insects beneath. Miss Florence Merriam tells of having drawn 

 a number of veeries about her by imitating their call-note, which 

 is a whistled wbeew, ui.wif, very easy to counterfeit when once 

 heard. " Taweel-ah, taweel-ah, twil-ab, twil-ah!" Professor 

 Ridgeway interprets their song, that descends in a succession of 

 trills without break or pause ; but no words can possibly con- 

 vey an idea of the quality of the music. The veery, that never 

 claims an audience, sings at night also, and its weird, sweet 

 strains floating through the woods at dusk, thrill one like the 

 mysterious voice of a disembodied spirit. 



Whittier mentions the veery in " The Playmate" : 



" And here in spring the veeries sing 

 The song of long ago." 



Wood Thrush 



(Turdus mustelinus) Thrush family 



Called also : SO^G THRUSH; WOOD ROBIN; BELLBIRD 



Length—^ to 8.3 inches. About two inches shorter than the 

 robin. 



Male and Female — Brown above, reddish on head and shoulders, 

 and shading into olive-brown on tail. Throat, breast, and 

 underneath white, plain in the middle, but heavily marked 



123 



