ISO 



The Wood Tlirtish. 



The lining consists of fine black fibrous 

 roots, which form a fine background to set 

 off the four or five beautiful light blue eggs. 

 When the nest is approached the parents 

 manifest great distress, flying rapidly from 

 branch to branch, and uttering a somewhat 

 low guttural chick or qtiank. If the nest is 

 visited frequently, however, they seem to 

 become accustomed to the stranger, and at 

 length receive his visits with equanimity. 



The Wood Thrush seems to have a great 

 fancy for using in the construction of its 

 nest bits of newspaper and white rags. 

 These are worked into the foundation, and 

 often the ends of the strips of cloth may 

 hang down a foot or eighteen inches below 

 the nest, and thus frequently lead to its dis- 

 covery. A somewhat amusing instance of 

 its fondness for building material of this 

 description came under our notice some 

 years ago. An old Irish serving woman had 

 removed the lace border from her best cap, 

 and after washing it, had spread it on the 

 grass near the house to dry and bleach in 

 the sun. A few hours later, when she went 

 to get it, it was nowhere to be found, which 

 seemed very mysterious, as none of the 

 other clothes had been disturbed. The 

 owner of the cap border concluded that it 

 had been stolen, and was loud in her de- 

 nunciations of the thieves who would take 

 the property of a poor lone woman. These 

 thieves were detected a few weeks later in 

 a pair of Wood Thrushes, whose nest was 

 found about sixty yards from the spot from 

 which the article had been taken. Hang- 

 ing from the foundation of the nest was the 

 stolen cap border, which, after the young 

 had left the nest, was restored to its owner, 

 not at all the worse for its use as building 

 material. 



The young of the Wood Thrush are fed 

 almost wholly on insects, of which these 

 birds must destroy a great many. The 

 earth worm forms a considerable portion of 

 their food, and the birds may frequently be 

 seen hunting for these in the grass, precisely 



after the manner of the robin. Just as he 

 does, the Wood Thrush hops a few steps, 

 then pauses and stands for an instant, with 

 his head cocked on one side, as if listening; 

 then he gives a few vigorous digs at the 

 ground with his sharp bill, and presently 

 drags to the light a long worm, which he 

 bears off in triumph to his hungry family. 



The young Wood Thrush is easily reared 

 in confinement. He thrives on crumbs of 

 bread or crackers soaked in milk, and on 

 finely minced raw beef. Berries are accept- 

 able to him, and he likes an occasional 

 raisin. A pair that we once had in an avi- 

 ary were the tamest of the thirty or forty 

 birds in the large cage, and would often 

 alight on head, arm or hand, as we were 

 preparing the food or putting things in 

 order. They were always on the watch 

 for one operation, that of filling the water 

 dishes. It often happened that while this 

 was being done a little water would be 

 spilled, and as it soaked into the sand on the 

 floor and disappeared, the birds would fly 

 down and peck at it very energetically, evi- 

 dently thinking that because it moved it 

 must be something alive. It was interest- 

 ing to watch the progress made in music by 

 one of these youngsters during his first win- 

 ter. He began to sing during the late 

 autumn, and at first his notes were a mere 

 murmur, scarcely audible at a distance of a 

 few feet. Gradually they became louder 

 and more definite, though as yet not par- 

 taking at all of the character of the Wood 

 Thrush's song, but toward spring his im- 

 provement became much more rapid, and 

 by the time the wild thrushes had returned 

 he was really a very fair singer. 



All who have written about the Wood 

 Thrush have been enthusiastic in praise 

 of its song. This is heard chiefly in the 

 early morning, up to lo o'clock, and at 

 evening just before sunset. It is not un- 

 usual, however, to hear the songsters at any 

 hour of the day in cloudy, damp weather; 

 and during a rain storm, just before it clears 



