2o8 American Birds 



THE THRUSH FAMILY 



This family contains the best of our American song-birds. The 

 colors are generally brown, the breast speckled, especially in young 

 plumage. The thrushes have moderately sharp and slender bills. They 

 live on insects, berries, and fruit. Common throughout the woodland 

 parts of our country. The robin is about ten inches in length, while the 

 wood thrush is two inches shorter. 



American Robin (Merula migratorta): Male, above, olive-gray; head, 

 wings, and tail, blackish; throat, black, streaked with white; breast, brick- 

 red; white eyelids. Female, paler throughout. Common through east- 

 ern United States, where some stay all year; migrating flocks come in 

 March and leave in October and November. Nest in crotch of tree 

 generally, made of sticks and plastered with mud. Eggs, four in num- 

 ber, greenish-blue, unspotted. 



Western Robin (Merula migratoria propinqua): Name applied to 

 species on Pacific Coast, but bird is not distinguishable from above. 



Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina): Male and female, head and 

 back of neck, rusty or golden-brown, fading to olive on the rump and 

 tail; under parts, white, sprinkled with dark brown spots. Lives in the 

 states north of Virginia, Kentucky, and Kansas, where it stays from 

 early May to October. Nests in low trees and bushes. Eggs, four in 

 number and like the robin but smaller. 



Wilson's Thrush (Veery) and Olive-backed Thrush, somewhat like 

 the above in looks and habits; may be found throughout eastern United 

 States. 



Russet-backed Thrush (Hylocicbla ustulata): Male and female, 

 above, olive brown; breast, light colored with dark spots like the above 

 species. Lives on the Pacific Coast. 



