10 SOME CANADIAN BIRDS. 



vinooH can fairly claim to ho thu home of five Rpecien of that fiproup 

 of the thrtiHh family to which HyHtumatistH have given the nub* 

 generic title of hylocirlda, but which are bettor known by their 

 English names— wo(j(l thruHh, Wilson's thrush or voery, gray-cheeked 

 thruHh, olivo-lwckod thruHh, and hermit thruHh. Four of these build 

 their nestH in some of the settled portions of the country, but the 

 fifth — the gray-cheeked — is made of sttirdior stuff, and revels in the 

 bracing air and deep forests that lie northward of the Laurontian 

 hills. We catch a glimpse of these northern breeding birds as the 

 flocks go scurrying across the country on the way to and from their 

 winter resorts in the far away south ; and it is but a glimpse we get, 

 for as a mattar of fact they are rarely seen at all, and only a few 

 Canadian observers have had the good fortune to loam how these 

 birds look in the field. I cannot therefore place the gray-choeked 

 thrush among those species which for the present purpose I have 

 decided to class as "common," though the other four can fairly 

 claim recognition. 



These thrushes are not equally distributed over all the Provinces, 

 thouyh with one exception they are more or less abundant almost 

 everywhere. The wood thru&h is the exception, for it occurs 

 regularly in Ontario only, and Mr. Mcllwraith, who is good author- 

 ity, tells us that the biril is rarely found far from the southern 

 border. We learn from other observers that it has been taken in 

 Bruce county and near Peterborough, and it is said to be fairly 

 common in parts of the Ottawa valley. A few examples have been 

 seen and heard in the Eastern townships of Quebec, but the song 

 has not been heard in the Maritime Provinces nor in Maine, 

 though in Massachusetts the wood thrush is quite common. 



Our four thrushes appear so much alike in form and color, and 

 their habits and songs are so similar, that the average native thinks 

 them one species, which he dubs "swamp robin." Robin, from 

 their robinish ways and mellow notes, and of the swamp because 

 their songs often come from bushes that flank the damp meadows, 

 or from some cool dingle through which a stream purls its way. 

 The native aforesaid should not be harshly judged for his mistake, 

 as the birds at a distance are not easily distinguished, though a 

 close inspecticn reveals marked differences. 



Xhp tl^rush^s ar^ ranked amon^ the most noble of the avian 



