214 THE WILSON THRUSH. 



No. 94. 

 WILSON THRUSH. 



A. O. U. No._756. Hylocichia fuscescens (Steph.). 



Synonym. — VEEry. 



Description. — Adult : Above, light cinnamon-brown or bister, uniform ; 

 wing-quills shading to brownish fuscous on inner webs; below white, the throat, 

 except in the upper middle, and the breast, tinged with cream-buff, and spotted 

 narrowly and sparingly with wedge-shaped marks of the color of the back ; sides 

 and flanks more or less tinged with brownish gray ; sides of head buffy-tinged, 

 with mixed brown, save on whitish lores ; bill dark above, light below ; feet light 

 brown. Adult male, length 7.25-7.75 (184.2-196.9); wing 4.00 (101.6); tail 

 2.87 (72.9) ; bill .53 (13.5). Female averaging smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow to Chewink size ; light cinnamon brown 

 above; breast buffy, lightly spotted. 



Nest, of leaves, bark-strips, weed-stems, and trash, lined with rootlets ; on 

 or near the ground. Eggs, 3-5, plain greenish blue, not unlike the Robin's. 

 Av. size, .88 x .64 (22.4 x 16.3). 



General Range. — Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Manitoba, 

 Ontario, and Newfoundland. Breeds from northern New Jersey and the north- 

 ern part of the Eake States northward; winters sparingly in Florida, but chiefly 

 south of the United States. 



Range in Ohio. — Common migrant. Not uncommon summer resident in 

 northern Ohio ; less common and locally restricted throughout the state. 



THOSE of this species which pass farther north to breed, and which 

 constitute by far the greater majority, may sometimes be seen in village 

 orchards and in rather open situations, but the chosen home is in deep, dank 

 forests and in low-lying, swampy tangles. Here the enthusiastic bird stu- 

 dent may catch a sufficient glimpse of a flitting shade to believe that the tail 

 seen does not contrast in color with the back, and that the bird must there- 

 fore be, by elimination, the Wilson rather than the Hermit Thrush. For the 

 rest the bird is known only as a voice, an elusive voice, a weird and wonder- 

 ful voice. The name "Veery," by which the bird is known in New Eng- 

 land, is evidently an imitation of one of its rolling notes. Its scolding or 

 interrogatory cry consists of a single one of these notes, Ve-ery or ve-er-u, 

 but its song consists of a series of six or seven of these syllables rolled out 

 with a rich and inimitable brogue. The notes vibrate and resound, and fill the 

 air so full of music that one is led to suspect the multiple character of each. 

 The bird is really striking chords, and the sounding strings still vibrate 

 when the next is struck. There is, moreover, in the whole performance a 

 musical crescendo coupled with a successive lowering of pitch, which is sim- 

 ply ravishing in its sense of mystery and power. 



