1897] Ornithology. 119 



vocabulary besides its song, and one may often hear a veery 

 whistling in a very human way, much as a man expresses sur- 

 prise — -only that the veery must indicate very much surprise in- 

 deed to rise to the pitch of excitement into which he sometimes 

 whistles himself He also has a low deep cluck by which the 

 initiated may sometimes discover him in the silent wood. — 

 F. A. Saunders. 



Wood Thrush, — Turdus viustetinus. — This is the largest 

 of the thrushes proper being of the size of a robin ; above it is 

 bright tawny shading to olive on the tail, and beneath white 

 with little or no buff shading, strongly marked on breast with 

 large dusky spots which stand out very distinctly against the 

 white back ground, and serve along with the size, to distinguish 

 it easily from the other thrushes. It comes rather rarely to 

 Ottawa, and while one or two families may often be found in 

 summer breeding in the wood on or near the southern face of 

 King's Mountain, and doubtless in other places, it would take a 

 very close observer to discover many of them during the migra- 

 tions, and indeed, the time of their arrival and departure cannot 

 be at all definitely given. Their nest is in a tree, seldom more than 

 twenty feet from the ground, and is composed of twigs, rootlets, 

 grass, leaves and moss, with a liberal supply of clay as a found- 

 ation. The eggs are four to five in number and of a deep green- 

 ish blue colour. The wood thrush may be readily recognized either 

 by eye or ear. Besides its song it has a distinguishing cluck and 

 sometimes, when disturbed, a curious alarm call, consisting simply 

 of one note uttered separately and interspersed with much twit- 

 tering. This is the common New England thrush, sometimes 

 known there as the hermit and it is to be hoped that it is 

 really becoming commoner here, as some birds seem to be, as its 

 song, now rarely heard, would be a welcome addition to all our 

 bird choruses.— F. A. SAUNDERS. 



Bluebh-id, — Sialia sialis. — A summer resident'; among the 

 earliest of the spring arrivals appearing towards the latter part of 



