xc 



WOOD THRUSH ; WOOD ROBIN 

 755. HylocicTila mustelina (Gmel.) 



The delicate shades of cinnamon brown on its back 

 and tail and the white breast with its splotches of brown, 

 make this Eobin-sized bird one of the most beautiful and 

 harmoniously colored of our woodland birds. Its sub- 

 dued beauty of plumage should prepare one for the 

 beauty of its song. As a rule, birds of gaudy plumage 

 are the poorest musicians. The Hummingbird and the 

 Painted Bunting are illustrations. 



The Wood Thrush selects for its home-site deep 

 shadowy ravines, where heavy timber and underbrush 

 abound. The nest is usually placed from six to ten feet 

 from the ground, and is composed of root fibres, old 

 pieces of newspapers and, occasionally, a cast-off snake *s 

 skin, plastered firmly together with mud. There are us- 

 ually four eggs of a bluish green color. 



The Wood Thrush is more often heard than seen by 

 those who do not know its ways and how to approach 

 it and interpret its ventriloquist-like voice. It is a quiet, 

 retiring bird, and does not flaunt its art by high and 

 open perching or by the jerking of its tail, but remains 

 modestly perched on a limb near the ground and close to 

 the body of the tree. 



The song of the Wood Thrush is that of a cultured 

 musician; its modulations and phrasings are tones and 

 expressions produced only by one who has practiced long 

 under a master- teacher. No ragtime or jazz burlesquing 

 is indulged in by this artist; its tones are pure, sweet 

 and appealing. The harmonious and subdued notes are 

 seemingly called forth as the shades of approaching night 

 are drawn. The days of the Wood Thrush, spent in 

 shadowy retreats free f rom the rays of the noonday sun, 

 are days of continuous twilight, and the song is ever a 

 song of evening, of a deliberate and melancholic char- 

 acter. This pensive sadness makes one like to linger 

 in the gathering darkness and listen to its repetition. 



