Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
entangled in the wild grape-vines twined about the saplings 
and underbrush, still sings to us from unapproachable tangles. 
Plainly, if we want to see the bird, we must let it seek us out on 
the fallen log where we have sunk exhausted in the chase. 
Presently a brown bird scuds through the fern. It is a 
thrush, you guess in a minute, from its slender, graceful body. 
At first you notice no speckles on its breast, but as it comes 
nearer, obscure arrow-heads are visible—not heavy, heart-shaped 
spots such as plentifully speckle the larger wood thrush or the 
smaller hermit. It is the smallest of the three commoner thrushes, 
and it lacks the ring about the eye that both the others have. 
Shy and elusive, it slips away again in a most unfriendly fashion, 
and is lost in the wet tangle before you have become acquainted. 
You determine, however, before you leave the log, to cultivate 
the acquaintance of this bird the next spring, when, before it 
mates and retreats to the forest, it comes boldly into the gardens 
and scratches about in the dry leaves on the ground for the lurk- 
ing insects beneath. « Miss Florence Merriam tells of having drawn 
a number of veeries about her by imitating their call-note, which 
is a whistled wheew, whott, very easy to counterfeit when once 
heard. ‘‘ Taweel-ah, taweel-ah, twil-ab, twil-ab!” Professor 
Ridgeway interprets their song, that descends in a succession of 
trills without break or pause ; but no words can possibly con- 
vey an idea of the quality of the music. 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. 
Whittier mentions the veery in ‘‘ The Playmate” : 
‘* And here in spring the veeries sing 
The song of long ago.” 
Wood Thrush 
(Turdus mustelinus) Thrush family 
Called also: SONG THRUSH; WOOD ROBIN; BELLBIRD 
gi to 8.3 inches. About two inches shorter than the 
robin. 
Male and Female—Brown above, reddish on head and shoulders 
and shading into olive-brown on tail. Throat, breast, ans 
underneath white, plain in the middle, but heavily marked 
123 
