The Wood Thrush u 3 



nest may sometimes be found near to the ground, but usually 

 is from fifteen to twenty-five feet above it in the crotch of a 

 bush or upon the limb of a tree. The nest is made of leaves, 

 weed stems, roots, rags, strips of paper and mud. The eggs, 

 three to five of which constitute a clutch, are blue like those 

 of the robin. Incubation lasts twelve days and the young leave 

 the nest in about the same length of time. During the period 

 of incubation the bird sits closely and will allow a person to 

 approach within a few feet of the nest. It has been said that 

 when large portions of the country were covered with dense 

 forests, the wood thrush was a very shy bird, and that it was 

 difficult to get close to it, but at Buzzard's Roost we have had 

 them to nest within two hundred feet of the cottage, and to 

 alight in the yard and eat with the domestic fowls. 



Professor Forbes, who examined and made a study 

 of many of the stomachs of these birds, found that seventy-two 

 per cent, of their food consisted of insects, the greater portion 

 of them being ground-inhabiting forms. One specimen had 

 stuffed itself with rose-beetles and others had eaten large num- 

 bers of ants and crane-flies. Twenty per cent, of their food 

 consisted of fruits, much of which were wild fruits obtained 

 from their haunts. 



But that concerning the wood thrush which deserves the 

 most attention is its song. As I have already said, one of the 

 reasons why the family of thrushes are classed as the highest 

 order of our birds is their gift of song; and of this family, in 

 this respect, the wood thrush by many is and has been regard- 

 ed as at the head of the list. It was this that made it the 

 favorite of Audubon and Wilson. Audubon says that it was 

 its sweet notes that enlivened him in the solitary and dense 

 forest, at twilight and dawn. Wilson says : "But at what- 

 ever time the wood thrush may arrive, he soon announces his 

 presence in the woods. With the dawn of the succeeding morn- 

 ing, mounting to the top of some tall tree that rises from a 

 low thick-shaded part of the woods, he pipes his few but clear 

 and musical notes in a kind of ecstacy ; the prelude, or sym- 

 phony to which, strongly resembles the double tonguing of 

 a German flute, and sometimes the tinkling of a small bell ; 

 the whole song consists of five or six parts, the last note of 



