286 The Wood Thrush 



"In Useful Birds and Their Protection," Mr. E. H. Forbush has 

 written : "The song of the Wood Thrush is one of the finest specimens 

 of bird music that America can produce. Among all the bird songs 



that I have heard it is second only in quality to that 

 Heavenly Q ^ permit Thrush. It is not projected upon the 



still air with the effort that characterizes the bold and 

 vigorous lay of the Robin, or the loud and intermittent carol of the 

 Thrasher. Its tones are solemn and serene. They seem to harmonize 

 with the sounds of the forest, the whispering breeze, the purling water, 

 or the falling of rain-drops in the woods. As with most other birds, 

 there is a great difference in the excellence of individual performers, 

 and, while some males of the species can produce such notes as few 

 birds can rival, this cannot be said of all. At evening the bird usually 

 mounts to the higher branches of the taller trees, often upon the edge 

 of the forest, where nothing intervenes to confine or subdue his 'heavenly 

 music.' There, sitting quite erect, he emits his wonderful notes in the 

 most leisurely fashion, and apparently with little effort. A-olle, he sings 

 and rests ; then, unhurried, pours forth a series of intermittent strains, 

 which seem to express in music the sentiment of nature ; powerful, rich 

 metallic, with the vanishing vibratory tones of the bell, they seem like 

 a vocal expression of the mystery of the universe, clothed in a melody 

 so pure and etheral that the soul, still bound to its earthly tenement, can 

 neither imitate nor describe it. The song rises and falls, swells and dies 

 away, until dark night has fallen. The alarm note of the bird is sharp 

 pit, pit, several times repeated; this alarm often rises to a long roll. 

 A soft cluck, also repeated, is sometimes heard. A mellow, rather 

 liquid, chirp is another common note." 



The Wood Thrush is not among the early feathered arrivals in spring. 

 In fact, we do not see it until the new leaves are well started, and warm 

 weather has advanced sufficiently to render improbable the recurrence of 



one of those backward blasts of winter which so often 

 In Spring occur in early spring. It is during the last ten days of 



April that we usually find the first Wood Thrush -in 

 the latitude of New York. Within a few days after his song is heard 

 ringing through the woodlands, practically all the Wood Thrush delega- 

 tion arrives. Love-making shortly begins, and full complements of eggs 

 may be looked for within three weeks. 



The building of a nest to suit the taste of a pair of Wood Thrushes 

 involves no small amount of labor. Although the birds feed on the 

 ground, and spend much of their time running or hopping about in the 

 grass or among the fallen leaves, they do not regard this as a good place 

 for their eggs and young. 



Up in a small tree, from six to ten feet above the earth, they choose 

 their nesting-site. The fork of an upright limb, or where the main 

 stem of a sapling divides, is looked upon as a choice situation. Here large 

 dead leaves, and sometimes pieces of paper, are brought, and these, held 



