HE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



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Vol. 1. 



TWIN BLUFFS, WIS., SEPT., 1885. 



No. 4. 



Wisconsin Birds. 



I. 

 1. The Wood Thrush. 



P>ut most delightful of all, as the 

 sun leaps above the horizon, is the 

 mingled chorus of the birds. 



The Wood Thrush (Turdus Mus- 

 telinus) arrived somtime during the 

 night and is giving us his first song. 

 To me it is an event of the season. 

 Nothing in all our bird melody 

 equals it! Such is its sweetness and 

 copious variety that I shall not at- 

 tempt to describe it in syllables. It 

 must suffice to say that the tones are 

 flute-like, if indeed they can be 

 compared to any instrument; a varie- 

 ty of brief tinkles, trills, triplets and 

 warbles, on many chords, interme- 

 diates and chromatics, following 

 each other in close but rather slow 

 succession, in every possible key, 

 cadence and inflection, with a pecu- 

 liar shake on a low key every now 

 and then thrown in; the whole sug- 

 gesting the idea of a solemn but 

 happy and tender train of medita- 

 tion; the bird sings as if in a de- 

 lightful reverie. From the time of 

 his arrival till late in June, or even 

 in July, his peculiar melody may be 

 heard at almost any time of day, but 

 especially early in the morning and 

 late in the evening. Never shall I 

 forget how, once at the dawn of day, 

 as I lay in my hammock high up 

 under the thick shade of two great 

 forest trees, the notes of the Wood 

 Thrush were the first to break the 

 stillness of the receding night. 

 Faintly, but oh! how sweetly, they 

 broke upon the air in the tree-top 

 just above me. Louder and louder, 

 were the liquid strains, until the 

 silent isles of the thick forest echoed 



to their delightful cadeuces, and all 

 the songsters in the vicinity woke 

 up and gave forth their united re- 

 sponse. 



Nothing is more characteristic of 

 our beautiful forest, at the close of 

 day, than the melody of this great 

 woodland artist — this Beethoven 

 among birds. 



Not peculiar to the streams and 

 wet places merely, as implied by 

 both Wils"on and Andubon, but ex- 

 ceedingly common as a summer res- 

 ident throughout the woods, the 

 Wood Thrush builds his nest in this 

 locality late in May or early in June, 

 in the crotch of a sapling, or on the 

 horizontal limb of a large tree, any 

 where from 7 to 15 feet from the 

 ground. The structure strongly re- 

 sembling that of the Robin, con- 

 sists outwardly of dried leaves, 

 coarse weed-stalks, grasses, rootlets, 

 etc., plastered together with mud, 

 and lined with rootlets for the most 

 part, the lining often being quite 

 scanty. The eggs, 3 or 4, some l.OOx 

 .75 inches, in form and color are like 

 those of the Robin. 



When the nest of this species is 

 disturbed or even approached, it has 

 an animated twitter, almost as 

 characteristic as its sotig, also a soft 

 chuck. I do not find this bird par- 

 ticularly shy, as compared to other 

 birds of the woods. 



Like other thrushes, it is often on 

 the ground, not infrequently utters 

 its song from a log or stump, and 

 seldom alights above the lower story 

 of the woods. Berries and insects 

 constitute its fare. Its flight is reg- 

 ular, and not very rapid. 



About 8 inches long, the upper 

 parts are bright brown, reddish on 

 the head dusky on the rump and 



