THE VARIED THRUSH. __ 251 
matters of no consequence. The prettiest compliment that Nature can pay to 
the genuine wildness of Ravenna Park, in Seattle, or Defiance Park, in’Tacoma, 
is the continued presence of the Varied Thrush in nesting time. Runa survey 
line across any timbered valley of western Washington, or up any timbered 
slope of the Cascades or Olympics, and the bird most certainly encountered, 
without reference to local topography or presumed preference, will be the 
Varied Thrush. The bird may likewise be found among the larches and 
cedars of the Calispell Range. 
The Varied Thrush is known by a variety of names, none more persistent 
or fitting than Winter Robin. It is a Robin in size, prevailing color, and 
general make-up; and it appears in the lowlands in large numbers only in the 
winter time, when the deep snows have driven it out of the hills. The Thrush 
is much more shy than the Robin, and altho it moves about in straggling com- 
panies, and does not shun city parks, it keeps more to cover. It also feeds 
largely upon the ground, and when startled by a passer-by it flutters up sharply 
into the trees with a wing-sound whose quality may soon be recognized as dis- 
tinctive. At such times the bird makes off thru the branches with a low chuck, 
or tsook, or else tries the air by low notes which are like the song, only very 
much more subdued. This is manifestly an attempt to keep in touch with 
companions, while at the same time attracting as little hostile attention as 
possible. ‘This note is, therefore, barely audible, and has very little musical 
quality, aaruc, or iiir. 
The nesting of the Varied Thrush was most fully brought to light by 
Mr. D. E. Brown, at Glacier, in the season of 1905. Like some tireless re- 
triever, this ardent naturalist quartered the mazes of the dense spruce forest 
which covers the floor of the North Fork of the Nooksack, and in a range of 
some fifteen miles up and down that stream succeeded in locating forty-five 
nests of this, till then, little-understood species. Of these, twenty-five con- 
tained full sets of eggs, while the remainder fell before such accidents as 
desertion, robbing by Jays, Owls, ete. The first set taken was on May 5th, 
and the eggs were slightly incubated. ‘The last, with fresh eggs, was taken 
June roth,—probably the second nesting of some bird robbed earlier in the 
season. Among the nests examined, three contained sets of four each, and 
the remainder three. Of the entire number, all were placed in evergreen trees, 
save two. Of these last, one was set in the splinters in the broken top of a 
willow, about fifteen feet up; and the other was placed in an upright crotch 
of an elderberry bush at four feet from the ground. 
Here are the woods that abound in moss-bunches,—great balls of thrifty 
green which grow, without apparent excuse, alike from the flimsiest and from 
the most substantial supports. It is in view of the abundance of these, that 
the Varied Thrush builds as it does, right out in the open of the underwood, 
near the top, or at least well up, in a small fir tree. The searcher has only the 
