44 WOOD THRUSH 



Wood Thrush: Turdus mustelinus. 



Length about 8^2 inches. 



Upper parts bright cinnamon-brown. 



Under parts cream-white, thickly marked with large black 

 spots, except on the throat and middle of the belly. 



Resident (common) from April 20 to October 15; winters 

 in Central America. 



"The Heavenly Thrush!" This was Audubon's 

 favorite songster, as he has been of many another 

 nature-lover, for his song seems to voice the very 

 spirit of the woods. Heard at evening when the lin- 

 gering radiance of sunset fills the grove and glorifies 

 the singer, it is especially entrancing. While he may 

 sing at any time, one is most sure of hearing him at 

 sunset and in the early morning, or on a cloudy day. 

 His call-note is whit, whit, much like that of the 

 Robin, but softer. 



This beautiful Thrush is an inhabitant of most 

 woods about Washington, nesting in the under- 

 growth, usually in a young dogwood tree or high 

 bush. He builds in a crotch, beginning with a few 

 dead leaves which hang loosely below the nest, giving 

 the effect which he probably intended, of its being- 

 only a bunch of litter left from winter storms. The 

 outside is of leaves, twigs and rootlets, firmly inter- 

 woven, and inside is a wall of mud which is lined 

 with fine rootlets. The eggs, 3 to 5, are pale greenish- 

 blue like the Robin's. 



The only bird with which the Wood Thrush is 

 likely to be confused outside of migration time is the 

 Brown Thrasher. The color and markings of the 

 two birds are much the same, but the Thrasher is a 

 slender bird with a very long tail, while the Thrush is 

 rather stocky, so that one soon comes to know them 

 apart, even at a distance. We have a number of 



