2^0 



THE WILLOW THRUSH" 



wliistlctl Ti/ifi'-i'i"; and tlii>. in turn, is varied and strengthened lu ;v-iT-h. or 

 I'l'i'ry, wlience tlie ouninun name of the t\|)ical f<»nn, //. fiisccsccns, in tlie 

 East. The song pruper cimsisls of six or seven of these 'r-fr-vs, rolled out 

 with a ridi and inimitable hrogne. The notes vihrate and resound, and till the 

 air so full of music tiiat one is led to sus])ect the multiple cliaracter of each. 

 T\]v itinl is re.illy striking chords. ;md tlie sounding strings still vihrate when the 



next is struck. There 

 is, moreover, in the 

 whole performance, 

 a musical crescendo 

 coui)led with a suc- 

 cessive lowering of 

 pitcli, wliich is fairly 

 ravishing in its im- 

 pression of luysterA" 

 ■ ind power. 



The distriiiution 

 of this si>ecies is as 

 vet imperfectly made 

 ul. Having made 

 lis ac<|uaintance at 

 S|M>kane and along 

 the valley of the 

 Tend d "Oreille, we 

 were al)le to recog- 

 nize it later at Che- 

 Ian and Stehekin, the 

 l.itter unciuestionably 

 the westernmost rec- 

 ord of its occurrence 

 in the I'nited States. 

 Whetlier it may also 

 extend further south 

 F. s''iluJii'. along the east from 

 of the Cascades, re- 

 mains to Ir- seen. 



.\ nest before me was taken by Mr. I'Ved S. Merrill, in S]>okane. It was 

 placed in tlie crotch of an alder at a height of two feel, and contained, on the 

 ninth day of June, four slightly incubated eggs. The nest is a rather loosely 

 constructed affair of bark-strips, dead leaves, coarse grasses, shavings, leaf- 

 stems, etc., an<l has a careless lining of <lessicated leaves and broken grasses. 

 The matrix of mud. or leaf-mold, which gives strength and consistency to the 



Taken 



nfiir SfokaH' 



III. WII.I.OW TURrSH 



