30 BIRDS 



took the next lease, and another lot of nervous, fidgety 

 baby tenants came out of four light greenish blue eggs; 

 but, as usual, they moved away to the woods after a 

 fortnight to join the choir invisible. 



The Veery 



Length — 7 to 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than 

 the robin. A trifle smaller than the wood thrush. 



Male and Female — Uniform olive-brown, with a tawny 

 cast above. Centre of the throat white, with cream- 

 buff on sides of throat and upper part of breast, quite 

 lightly marked with wedge-shaped, brown points. 

 Underneath white, or with a faint grayish tinge. 



Range — United States, westward to plains. 



Migrations — ^May. October. Summer resident. 

 (See plate, page 19.) 



To many of us the veery, as Wilson's thrush is most 

 often called, is merely a voice, a sylvan mystery, reflecting 

 the sweetness and wildness of the forest, a vocal "w^- 

 o'-the-wisp" that entices us deeper and deeper into the 

 woods. The song descends in a succession of trills with- 

 out break or pause; but no words can possibly convey an 

 idea of the quality of the music. It is as if two voices, 

 an alto and a soprano, were singing at the same time. 

 Whee-you, whee-you — the familiar notes might come 

 from a scythe being sharpened on a whetstone, were the 

 sound less musical than it is. The veery, that never 

 claims an audience, sings at night also, and its weird, sweet 

 strains floating through the woods at dusk thrill one like 

 the mysterious voice of a disembodied spirit. 



