T H R 



T I! K 



pied, its resort 

 n m, i- Baku 



n.n 

 rut 



female differing but little in colour, if at all, from the 

 male. (SmitlO 



itity, HMts, Fowl, fr. Dr. Smith state-, thit iin 

 mediately upon reaching KnrichaO^M tl: MI to 



appear in the thickets, mui 



sionaJIv a specimen even in the \icr 'roi>ic. It 



seeks, he says, its food upo: 1. and, \v)i 



uhlx by the natives ii-om the 



"T in displacing 

 the insects it i-, 

 the country 

 lio vigour 

 i rest translation 

 lio can give is 'Ground-Scraper.' 



Dr. Smith further remarks that the form of its bill, par- 

 ticularly towards the bast-, the length of its legs, and the 

 fchortness ul' its tail, an- all characters which reinoxcit from 

 the more typical species of the ireiius Tunliu : but yet 

 there is in'its structure and habits what necessarily con- 

 a true thaib.!i. I/lti*lr<itiunt of the Zim/'U*y nf 

 S-mt/i .-Africa.) 



Tiintni itrepifeni, male. (Smith.) 



AMERICAN THRUSHKS. 



Kx-runjile. Tirnlii* iti\trlinux, Om. 



!> ^-njiti'in. Above, bright cinnamon brown, bright- 

 ruing into rufous <m Hie head, and inclining to olive on 

 the rump nnd tail. Heneath, whitish, thickly marked 

 with pencil-shaped dusky spots. Vent jinre wfiitc. Or- 

 bils of the eye white, liill dusky brown, slightly nolelud. 

 lower mandible flesh-coloured towards the base. 

 and cla . s very pale flesb-folour. Iris dark chocolate. 

 Length H inches : a!:tr extent l:t inches. iNuttall.! 



This appears to be the '/';</ in nnd 



Tin-ill/ Thrush of Pennant, nnd is generally known us tin- 

 ' Tlirn^. 



till/, Jlubils. I -\uttall states that this 



solitary and retiring sinister inhaliits, during summer, the 



whole continent from Hudson's Max to Florida, air 



cording to his friend Mr. Ware, nth a- the 



vicinity of Natchex, in i ippi. II' 



Ks that it is not satisfactorily ascertained whether 



mils (lie boundaries of the United States in 



winter, because the bird is then silent, and ahva\s difficult 



ess. Hi- thinks it probable that this Thrush may 



'hi- Southern States, as a you us; bird, gl. 



iad been caught in a garden in Boston 



Oil the 2fit!l October. 



1 Thrush may winter, it \ 

 from the 1st to the 15th of April. 



-onj; and habits : 



' At the dawn of morning lie announces hi* pn -> 

 the Wuods, nud from the top of some fail tree. 

 Urn. :< , in ,| si,;, ' 



clear and harmonious note* in a ] 

 inspired by the enthusiasm of renovated nature. The 



prelude to this tana resembles almost the double ton/uini; 

 of the flute, blended with a tinkliui;. shrill, and solemn 

 warble, which re-echoes from h 



nf s,.iiU' sad recluse who slur haunts of 



life. The whole air consists itMmlly of foi 

 which in deliberate tinie, and finally i 



together in im]>ressivu and soothini; harmony, bi eoniini; 



mellow and RW. 



formers seem to challenge each jiarls 



of the wood, vxiii!? for the favour of their ma) 

 sympathetic responses and softer ' 



life, terminate the warm .li-p' 



to combat and violence. Like the Hobin and the Thni 

 in dark nnd gloomy weather, when other bird- 

 shell. rut, the clear notes of the \Vood Thrvish 



are heard through the dropping woods, from dawn to 

 ip that, the taddi I the sweeter and mote i 



hissonir. His clear and interrupted whistle is hi,. 

 nearly the only voice of melody heard by the traveller, to 

 mid-day, in the heat of summer, as he tra\erses the silent, 

 dark, and wooded wilderness, remote from the ham.' 

 men. It is nearly impossible by words to ci 

 idea of the pecnliar warhlc of 'this \ocal hermit. 

 amonest his phi. .md of 'uirli .-. peculiarly liquid, 



and followed Dy a trill, repeated in two interrupted 



is readily recosrnisablc. Attunes tlinr notes bear a con- 

 siderable resemblance to those of Wilson's Thrush, such as 

 i'h rlu-hu 'rrrhii, then varied to '<h i-tlliu rilliii, V/i rillin 

 rri'/ni. then. '<-h rilln rilln. hiu!i and shrill. 



The Wood Thrush is always of a shy and retiring 

 disposition, appearinir alone, or only in single pairs, and, 

 while he willingly charms us with his sonir, lie is content 

 and even solicitous to remain concealed. His favourite 

 haunts are low shady glens by water.- i rendered 



dark with alder-bushes, mantled with the trailing giape- 

 vme. In quest of his insect prey he delights to follow the 

 meanders of the rivulet, through whose IcaiV shades the 

 sunbeams .-teal only in a lew uninterrupted rays oxer the 

 sparkling surface of the running brook. So partial is this 

 bird to si.litnde, that I have known one to sing ai 

 uniformly in the same place, though nearly half a mile 

 from his mute and nest. At times, indeed, he would 

 venture a few faltering low notes in an oak near his 

 consort, but his mellowest morning and evening v. 

 was always delivered from a tall hickory, overtop] 

 grove of hemlock firs, in which the dimness of twilight 

 prevailed at noon. The Wood Thrush, like the Night- 

 ingale, therefore, feels inspired in darkness, but, instead of 

 waiting for the setting sun. he chooses a retreat where the 

 beams of day can seldom enter. These shady re' 

 also an additional attraction to our Thrush : it is here that 

 the most, interesting scene of his instinctive labour I.: 

 and ends, here he first saw the light, and breathed into 

 "ice, and here he now bestows his nest in a sapling 

 oak. or in the next thick laurel or blooming alder, xvbose 

 berries afford him an ample repast in the coming autumn. 

 Outwardly it presents a warm bed of withered beach or 

 oak leases, above these a layer of coarse old grass and 

 leaf-stalks is laid, tempered with a mixture of mud :md 

 decayed wood smoothly plastered, sxi as to form a 

 like the nest of the Kobin. The whole is then surmounted 

 by a thin lining of the black fibrous radicles of the fern.' 



. 

 Th> same, author states that the eggs, which arc four or 



