The Wood Thrush. 



149 



but owing to the Seminole war, which was 

 then raging, he was unable to penetrate 

 far into the interior of the country. Finally 

 he left Charleston for Texas, with the ob- 

 ject of exploring the coast of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



It was during this winter spent in Charles- 

 ton that his work on the "Quadrupeds of 

 North America" was begun. The Texas ex- 

 pedition, which occupied two months, was not 

 particularly satisfactory, and was a great 

 strain upon Audubon's strength. He was 



glad to return to Charleston, where he rested 

 for a short time, and then he again visited 

 England. 



Only allowing himself a short time with 

 his family, Audubon went to Edinburgh, 

 where he once more devoted himself to work 

 upon his "Ornithological Biography." Hav- 

 ing completed this work, which was pub- 

 lished in May, 1839, he left Edinburgh for 

 the last time, and with his family returned 

 to New York, where the remainder of his 

 days were spent. 



THE WOOD THRUSH. 



BY far the sweetest songster among the 

 more familiar birds of our Northern 

 forests is the Wood Thrush. His notes are 

 few in number, but their wild, sweet melody 

 is incomparably superior to that of our best 

 known songsters. The metallic rattle of 

 the bobolink is rich and pleasing, the sad 

 quavering whistle of the meadowlark is very 

 sweet, the pipe of the song sparrow and the 

 twitter of the bluebird, first songs of spring, 

 have a charm that is all their own, but none 

 of these sounds, delightful though they be, 

 can match the tones of the Wood Thrush, 

 as with drooping wings, perched on one of 

 the loftiest branches of some great tree, he 

 salutes the rising or the setting sun. 



The Wood Thrush is usually regarded as 

 a solitary bird, an inhabitant of the deep 

 forests, where he dwells by himself. This 

 idea, while it fits well enough with his sur- 

 roundings in some cases, is not always true. 

 The Thrush does prefer large forest trees, 

 but is quite as much at home in open 

 meadowy lands, where the trees stand far 

 apart and there are wide stretches of lawn 

 varied with clumps of undergrowth. In 

 such localities the birds may often be found 

 in abundance, and be seen and heard to 

 great advantage. 



Although its summer range extends north 

 to Nev7 England and to Canada West, the 



Wood Thrush is rather a southern species, 

 scarcely reaching the State of Maine. It is 

 found as far west as Dakota and in eastern 

 Kansas, and winters on the Gulf Coast and 

 in Central America. It usually reaches the 

 Middle States early in the month of May, 

 making its appearance at about the same 

 time as the catbird and the Baltimore 

 oriole. At first it is a little shy about 

 showing itself, and the observer is often 

 first notified of its arrival by hearing its 

 sweet notes in the early morning. 



Not long after its coming the mating 

 takes place, and preparations for nest build- 

 ing are begun. The chosen situation varies 

 greatly. Sometimes the nest is placed high 

 up on the stout limb of a towering forest 

 tree, or again on one of the lower limbs of 

 a young hemlock, or sometimes even on a 

 slender sapling and not more than three or 

 four feet from the ground, but whatever its 

 position, it is always securely saddled either 

 on a crotch or a large limb, so that its posi- 

 tion is very firm, and there is but little 

 danger of its being dislodged by the storms 

 of summer. It is formed without of dried 

 leaves, with small twigs and the stems of 

 weeds. Upon this foundation is placed a 

 mat of dried grass, and then a coating of 

 mud, which, as in the case of the robin, is 

 shaped by the bird's breast into a deep cup. 



