WOOD THRUSH. 



The song of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is composed of a 

 series of soft, drawling whistles comparable to some of the 

 notes of the Nightingale, but without the volume and 

 passionate character of the latter bird's music. I have no 

 transcript of the song, and only one of the call note, whirl) 

 has I )con compared to the twanging staccato tone of a banjo 

 string, that is, the thumb or melody string, usually G, thus: 



lay! 



in quality it bears some resemblance to the Nuthatch's 

 //(//<& though in much higher pitch, and has hccn culled by 

 one author "a complaining or snarling note." 



Family Turdidce. THRUSHES, ROBIN, BLUEBIRD, ETC. 



This large family includes about three hundred species. 

 About one half of these represent the true Thrushes. 

 Of the Thrushes some twelve species are found in the 

 United States, four of which are tolerably though locally 

 common. The Thrushes are distinctive woodland birds, 

 some of them retiring to the fastnesses of the northern 

 forests and choosing high altitudes for their breeding 

 places. As musicians all are singularly gifted, and in 

 the case of the Hermit Thrush we are in possession of 

 the most talented and brilliant melodist in the world, the 

 Nightingale not excepted. 



Wood Thruh The Wood Thrush is the most strikingly 

 Hylodchla mar k e d member of his tribe, and certainly 



mustclina , . __. 



L 8 25 inches o ne of the sweetest of singers. His coloring 



May icth is more pronounced than that of the other 



Thrushes. Upper parts cinnamon or sienna brown, 

 brighter on the head, and merging gradually into light 

 olive-brown on the tail; under parts white conspicu- 

 ously marked with large round sepia-black spots; throat 



239 



