ii2 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



true. Accordingly, it is believed that the birds have descended 

 or rather ascended from reptilian ancestors. One of the evi- 

 dences of this is the fact that we find scales upon the tarsi and 

 toes of the birds, which in some measure correspond with 

 those of the reptiles. Because of the fact that the tarsi of the 

 thrushes are covered in front by a single scale and that they 

 have the most perfected vocal organs, a majority of the scien- 

 tists have placed them in the highest rank of our birds. Mr. 

 Frank Chapman in his Bird Life says : "Without pausing to 

 discuss the value of the characters on which this classification 

 is made, there can be no question that from an aesthetic stand- 

 point the thrushes possess in a greater degree than any other 

 birds those qualifications which make an ideal bird," and Ma- 

 bel Osgood Wright most appropriately calls them The Silver 

 Tongued Family. 



The wood thrush, a member of this family, is the largest 

 of our thrushes except the robin. In appearance the sexes are 

 alike. The -bill of the adult is of a moderate length, rather 

 stout, slightly convex and keeled above, with a sharp notched 

 tip and brown yellowish base ; white ring around the eye, 

 which is large, full, the pupil black and the iris of a dark choc- 

 olate color ; whole upper parts are of a brown rufous color 

 brightening into reddish on the head, and inclining to an olive 

 on the rump and tail ; chin, white ; throat and breast white, 

 tinged with a light buff color, and beautifully marked with 

 pointed spots of black and dusky, running in chains from the 

 sides of the mouth, and intersecting each other all over the 

 breast to the belly with the vent of pure white ; the legs are 

 long, and, as well as the claws, of a pale flesh color, or almost 

 transparent. They frequent copses, groves of young trees and 

 rocky glens, particularly if there is a stream of water near by, 

 and with these conditions existing at Buzzard's Roost, many 

 of them are to be found there. 



The range of the wood thrush extends from Honduras 

 and the Bermuda Islands north through the eastern United 

 States to Quebec and west to Kansas and North Dakota. It 

 winters south from Florida and Texas, and breeds from Geor- 

 gia and southern Missouri north throughout its northern 

 range. They mate soon after their arrival at the north. Their 



