492 THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 



2. No white in tail; which is olive-brown or rufous. 



A. Tail not brighter than back. 



a. Upperparts cinnamon-rufous. 



a 1 . Entire underparts, 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. 

 6. Upperparts olive. 



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



758a. OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. 



6 2 . Throat, and breast, white, with only a very slight buffy tinge; 

 eye-ring whitish, lores grayish. 

 757. GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. 757a. BICKNELL'S THRUSH. 



B. Tail brighter than back. 



a. Upperparts olive-brown, sometimes inclining to cinnamon; upper 

 tail-coverts and tail rufous .... 7596. HERMIT THRUSH. 



755. Hylocichla mustelina (GmeL). WOOD THRUSH. Ads. Upper- 

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

 to pale olive-brown on the upper tail-coverts and tail; underparts 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. E. N. Am. Breeds in Alleghanian and Carolinian faunas from 

 s. S. D., cen. Minn., cen. Wise., s. Ont., and s. N. H. s. to e. Tex., La., and 

 n. Fla. ; winters from s. Mex., to Costa Rica; casual in Maine. 



Washington, common S. R., Apl. 19-Oct. 10. Ossining, common S. R., 

 Apl. 30-Oct. 2. Cambridge, locally common S. R., May 10-Sept. 15. N. 

 Ohio, common S. R., Apl. 20-Oct. 1. Glen Ellyn, fairly common S. R., Apl. 

 30-Sept. 29. SE. Minn., common S. R., May 1-Sept. 19. 



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 8 feet up. Eggs, 3-5, greenish blue, lighter and with less green than 

 those of the Catbird, averaging lighter, but not certainly distinguishable 

 in color from those of the Robin, 1'05 x '76. Date, Yemassee, S. C., May 

 12; D. C., May 1; Chester Co., Pa., May 17; Cambridge, May 26; se. Minn., 

 May 26. 



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

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

 at all times it is more familiar and easier to observe than its retiring 

 relative. Large size, bright cinnamon Upperparts, and especially 

 a conspicuously spotted breast and sides, are its most striking field 

 characters. 



The Wood Thrush's call-notes are a liquid quirt and a sharp pit-pit. 

 The latter is the more characteristic and is often heard after night- 

 fall. When the bird is alarmed or imagines its young in danger, its 

 loud and rapid utterance of this call, resembling the sound produced- 

 by striking large pebbles together, gives painful evidence of its fear 

 and anxiety. 



The songs of the Wood and Hermit Thrushes are of the same char- 



