THRUSH COUSINS 



by the Brown Creeper while running up some trunk 

 and hiding behind it, or else by either or both of these 

 Kinglets. They go in small parties, sometimes the 

 two species together, and often in company with the 

 Chickadees, flitting merrily from branch to branch in 

 their hunt for larvae, lisping away in their almost 

 insect-like dialect. In northern New England and 

 Canada they build globular nests of moss, with side 

 entrance, suspended well out on the limbs of evergreens 

 in the forests. 



Now we come to the thrushes, another of our rather 

 puzzling groups, though they are not as hard to master 

 as the finches or warblers in that we have not nearly 

 so many species of them. In the Eastern and Middle 

 districts of the United States and Canada there are but 

 eight species and forms to learn, and most of these are 

 perfectly distinct, some of them very well known. For 

 instance, no one can mistake the Robin or the Blue- 

 bird — these are both thrushes. Then there is the 

 familiar Wood Thrush, the bird with bright reddish- 

 brown upper parts and heavily spotted breast. The 

 common Veery, or Wilson's Thrush, has also bright 

 upper parts, though less so than the preceding, but 

 smaller and fainter markings below. The Hermit 

 Thrush has a bright rufous tail, much brighter than the 

 brown of the back. The only great confusion can 

 occur with the dark-backed thrushes, which are the 

 Olive-backed and Alice's — the latter having under it 

 another form or geographical race known as Bicknell's 



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