WHERE TO FIND BIRDS 57 



could be at first mistaken for is the brown thrasher, 

 but that is larger, more vivacious, and has a much 

 longer tail. 



The Wilson's thrush, or veery, is fairly common. 

 It is rather a timid bird, not always easy to approach, 

 but if we can get a look at its faintly spotted breast 

 and unspotted sides, we can distinguish it at once. 

 The hermit thrush occurs only as a migrant, save 

 from the Northern States and on. Its " give-away " 

 point is that the tail is of a brighter reddish brown 

 than the back. The olive-backed thrush is another 

 rather common migrant, and has a dark olive-brown 

 back, very different from the others. 



In the same rank with the wood thrush as the 

 commonest woodland birds belong the red-eyed vireo 

 and the oven-bird. Both of these are very voluble 

 singers. The former has been called " preacher " 

 because he talks so much, and the latter " teacher " 

 because of a supposed propensity to repeat that word, 

 louder and louder. The scarlet tanager is a wood- 

 bird, though not averse to being near the edge by a 

 house. Most of the hawks and owls are of the 

 woods woodsy, and we shall give them a separate 

 chapter. The ruffed grouse, that great game-bird, is 

 perhaps even more than any of our birds, save the 

 hawks and owls, a lover of the deep, lonely forest, 

 where almost no other bird is to be seen or heard, 

 unless there are evergreens with their black-throated 

 green warblers. 



This warbler and a number of others are notably 



