434 NOTES ON THE 
The first noticed are either single or in small, loose parties, 
but so silent and unobstrusive, as to elude all but practiced 
observation. Its favorite haunts, so well known to be the low, 
thickly shaded borders of the forest, along the banks of running 
waters, overhung with wild vines, are now exchanged for those 
less secluded places, seeking its food in the open fields, or 
wherever it is most plentiful, which is quite near barns, sheds, 
and dwellings in many instances. In bright days this range is 
likely to be confined to the early morning, but when the sky is 
clouded, he will often remain about the garden all day, partic- 
larly when a little rainy also. My residence is very centrally 
located, and beside an arboreal lawn of my own, I have neigh- 
bors who have them also on either side of me, in any and all of 
which the Wood Thrush may often be seen at this season, under. 
the conditions mentioned 
A lady friend* of rare culture, who is a critical observer of 
the habits of birds, has a rear yard, or garden, only twenty- 
four by sixty feet, surrounded by a high fence, along which are 
planted bushes and shrubs, and in the centre, one or two fruit 
trees. 
The buildings are built in solid blocks from street to street, 
with no lawns, but she counts upon the visits of many species 
of the birds regularly in their migrations, and this one in par- 
ticular in which she is seldom dissapointed. Being perfectly 
familiar with the habits of all the common thrushes, and 
employing a field-glass at such short range, she could not con- ° 
found the species. 
Immediately upon the arrival of the closely following females 
unless the weather is exceptionally bad, the males will be 
heard early in the morning warbling their liquid, bell-toned 
notes from the top-most limb of a tree, surrounded by others 
inferior in height, and all embraced in a compact thicket in 
the woodlands. 
* Mrs. Sarah A. Hubbard author of the most charming Monograph on “The Hum- 
ming Birds of the two Americas” published a few years since in Harper’s Monthly. In 
one of her warbling letters, written May 5th. 1883, she says, when speaking of birds;— 
“And they have come, * * * Day hefore yesterday, a Wood Thrush, a Hermit 
Thrush. and a Swainson’s Thrush, spent the morning with me. 1 sit in a window look- 
ing right down upon them, and with my opera-glass it is almost as good as having 
them in my hand. The Wood Thrush. with his tawny head and erect crest, flapping 
its wings and keeping a fierce, truculent demanor; The Hermit Thrush with olive 
head and back, and tawny tail; and the Swainson’s with pure olive on the upper 
parts, were easily distinguished at a glance. The Hermit came first, April 4th, and 
has been here ever since, sometimes visiting me in companies of three and four, but 
more often in solitary state. 
I notice that when a bird comes, it is apt to stay all day, owing I think to the 
quiet seclusion of the place, with its high walls and abundant vines and shrubbery.” 
