THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 395 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



A. Tail blue ; back blue or bluish 766. BLUEBIRD. 



B. Tail black or blackish, tipped with white 761. ROBIN. 



C. Tail white, tipped with black 765. WHEATEAR. 



D. Tail olive-brown or rufous, without white spots. 



a. Upper parts cinnamon-brown ; tail not brighter than the back. 



a 1 . Entire under parts, including sides, more or less heavily marked with 

 round, black spots ; back brighter than tail . . 755. WOOD THRUSH. 



a 2 . Throat and upper breast pale buffy, with small, cinnamon-brown, 

 wedge-shaped spots ; belly pure white ; sides with a barely perceptible 

 grayish wash 756. WILSON'S THRUSH. 



b. Upper parts olive ; back and tail nearly the same color. 



b 1 . Throat, breast, cheeks, eye-ring, and lores deep cream-buff. 



758a. OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. 



& a . Throat, breast, cheeks, eye, and space before the eye white, with only 

 a very slight buffy tinge. 



757. GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. 757<z. BICKNKLL'S THRUSH. 



c. Upper parts olive-brown, sometimes inclining to cinnamon ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail rufous 7596. HERMIT THRUSH. 



755. Turdus mustelinus GmeL WOOD THRUSH. Ad. Upper parts 

 bright cinnamon-brown, brightest on the head, and changing gradually to pale 

 olive-brown on the upper tail-coverts and tail; under parts white, thickly 

 marked with large, round black spots except on the throat and middle of the 

 belly. L., 8-29 ; W., 4-44 ; T., 2-92 ; B., -65. 



Remarks. The Wood Thrush may be distinguished from our other 

 Thrushes (1) by its larger size ; (2) by its brighter, more rufous color above; 

 and (3) especially by the numerous large, round black spots on its under 

 parts. These cover not only the breast, but are equally numerous on the 

 sides, where they extend well up under the wings. 



Range. Eastern United States; breeds as far north as Minnesota, Ver- 

 mont, and Quebec ; winters in Central America. 



Washington, common S. R., Apl. 20 to Oct. 15. Sing Sing, common S. R., 

 Apl. 30 to Oct. 2. Cambridge, rather common S. R., May 12 to Sept. 15. 



Nest, of leaves, rootlets, fine twigs, and weed stalks, firmly interwoven, 

 with an inner wall of mud and lining of fine rootlets, generally in saplings, 

 about eight feet up. Eggs, three to five, greenish blue, lighter and with less 

 green than those of the Catbird, averaging lighter, but not certainly distin- 

 guishable in color from those of the Robin, 1-05 x -76. 



The Wood Thrush is not so distinctively a bird of the woods as Ihe 

 Veery. Well-shaded lawns are sometimes graced by his presence, and 

 at all times he is more familiar and easier to observe than his retiring 

 relative. His large size, bright cinnamon upper parts, and especially 

 his conspicuously spotted breast and sides, are his most striking field 

 characters. 



When excited, his usual call-note, pit-pit, is rapidly repeated until 



