202 SINGING BIRDS. 



The habit of this species of assembling in large communities to 

 roost at night, during the summer months, was unknown to natur- 

 alists until a few years ago, and no mention of this habit appeared 

 in print until October, 1890, when detailed accounts of several 

 " roosts " that had been discovered in the vicinity of Boston were 

 published in the " Atlantic Monthly " and " The Auk." They were 

 written by Mr. Bradford Torrey and Mr. William Brewster re- 

 spectively. The " roosts " are situated in Norton's Woods, on 

 Beaver Brook, Belmont, in Longwood, and in Melrose. 



The Robins assembling in these places are numbered by 

 thousands. 



Note. — A few examples of the Varied Thrush {Hespero- 

 cichla ncevid) have wandered from the Pacific coast to the Eastern 

 States; and the Red-winged Thrush {Turdus iliacus) occasion- 

 ally wanders from Europe to Greenland. 



WOOD THRUSH. 



TURDUS MUSTELINUS. 



Char. Above, tawny, brightest on head, shading to olive on rump 

 and tail ; beneath, white ; breast and sides marked with round spots of 

 dusky. Length 7^ to 8j^ inches. 



Nest. In a thicket or on low branch of small tree, usually in a moist 

 place ; of grass and leaves cemented with mud, lined with fine roots. 



Eggs. 3-5 ; pale greenish blue ; 1.05 X 0.75. 



This solitary and retiring songster during summer inhabits 

 the whole continent from Hudson's Bay to Florida ; and ac- 

 cording to my friend Mr. Ware, breeds as far south as the 

 vicinity of Natchez, in the territory of Mississippi. Whether 

 it leaves the boundaries of the United States in the winter is 

 not satisfactorily ascertained ; as the species is then silent, and 

 always difficult of access, its residence is rendered peculiarly 

 doubtful. The lateness of the season in which it still lingers 

 renders it probable that it may winter in the Southern States, 

 as a young bird, gleaning insects and berries, has been caught 

 in a garden in Boston on the 26th of October. 



From the southern parts of the Union, or wherever he may 

 winter, the Wood Thrush arrives in the Middle States from the 



