514 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



kinglets, to which it is related. Chapman compares the bird, both in 

 character, appearance and song, to the famous Nightingale, the song being 

 an exquisitely finished production, though lacking in strength and volume. 

 The characteristic call note is compared to the ting of a banjo string and 

 can be heard at a greater distance than the song. The nest of the Gnat- 

 catcher is a beautiful structure, composed of tendrils, bits of bark and fine 

 grasses woven into a firm, deep structure, carefully covered over the exterior 

 with lichens and resembling very much in general appearance the nest 

 of the Ruby-throated humming bird, though, of course, larger and com- 

 paratively deeper than the humming bird's. It is placed on a horizontal 

 branch or at the crotch of a limb from 10 to 50 feet from the ground. The 

 eggs are 4 or 5 in number, bluish white in ground color, thickly speckled 

 with reddish brown and umber, averaging .57 by .46 inches in dimensions. 



Family TURDIDAE 



Thrushes 



Wing rather elongate, pointed, the primaries 10 in number, the first 

 very small or spurious; tail rather square or slightly rounded, shorter than 

 the wing, the feathers widening toward their tips; bill moderate in length, 

 a little shorter than the head, rather slender, pointed, notched near the 

 tip, nearly straight, but the upper mandible slightly decurved near the 

 end; nostrils oval or roundish, uncovered; rictus more or less bristly; tarsus 

 booted, long for perching birds, slender, laminiplantar on sides and rear, 

 with the front toes deeply cleft, the outer one, however, joined to the inner 

 for half the basal joint. 



The birds of this family are of medium size for perching birds. The 

 plumage of the adults is usually un variegated, except for the spotting of 

 the breast, which is common with the woodland species, and the young 

 of all, which are spotted both above and on the breast. They undergo 

 but a single moult each year. They are migratory in habits and largely 

 insectivorous, though varying their diet with ripe fruits in the summer, 

 fall and winter. They are mostly arboreal in habit, though a large portion 

 of their insect food is captured on the ground, some species like the Robin 

 and Hermit thrush being particularly terrestrial in feeding habits. Others 





