708 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
319. Wood Thrush. Hylocichla mustelina (Gmel.). (755) 
Synonyms: Song Thrush, Wood Robin, Bell Bird.—Turdus mustelinus, Gmel., 1789, 
and most authors until 1880.—Hylocichla mustelina, Ridgw., 1880, and most recent 
authors.—Turdus melodus, Wils., 1808. 
Plate LXIX. 
Largest of the small thrushes and the only one which is heavily spotted 
on the sides as well as the breast with large round dark spots. In addition 
the upper parts are reddish brown, brightest on the head and back, the 
tail paler. 
Distribution.—Eastern United States to the Plains, north to southern 
Michigan, Ontario, and Massachusetts, south in winter to Guatemala 
and Cuba. Breeds from Virginia, Kentucky and Kansas northward. 
The Wood Thrush is an abundant summer resident of southern and 
middle Michigan, but appears to be somewhat local in its distribution; 
in some places it is entirely unknown, while half a dozen miles away it 
may be abundant. As a rule it seems to prefer an uneven country, with 
abrupt ridges and valleys, and it shows a decided preference for hardwoods 
and the vicinity of small streams, being rarely found in the evergreen 
forests and seldom in level regions. In spite of the fact that the bird is 
generally considered a southern species, there is some evidence to show 
that it occurs, at least occasionally, in nearly the whole of Michigan, being 
absent entirely only from the northernmost parts of the Upper Peninsula. 
Up to the parallel of 44° it may be considered a fairly common summer 
resident in suitable locations, yet Mr. Newell A. Eddy, after many years 
of careful observation in various parts of the Upper Peninsula, states 
that he has never found it in that region. On the other hand, Dr. Gibbs 
found it abundant in beech and maple woods about Howard City, Montcalm 
county, in 1882 and 1883, Chaney records it from Mason county in 1909 
(Auk, NXVITI, 1910, 278), and Dr. R. H. Wolcott found it in summer 
in Charlevoix county, though not in numbers. Wood & Frothingham 
found it common in Oscoda county July 4 and 15, and a single one was 
seen in Crawford county September 9. Mr. Stewart E. White states that 
it was not present on Mackinac Island in the summer of 1889, but was a 
common summer resident there in 1890 and 1891. Miss H. H. Wright 
reports parent birds feeding young in Josco county the last of June, 1907. 
Mr. F. H. Chapin has seen it in Emmet, Cheboygan and Charlevoix counties 
in August and September, while on the other hand Mr. Otto Widmann, 
during a two week’s residence in Emmet county in July, failed to find the 
bird, and the writer, who spent June, July and August 1904 in Emmet 
and Charlevoix counties, did not obtain the slightest evidence of its presence. 
There is a single lighthouse record, a specimen having been killed on 
Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, May 21, 1885, and Brewster and Dwight 
took specimens near Cadillac, Wexford county, and Oden, Emmet county, 
in May 1888. Dr. W. H. Dunham states that in Kalkaska county he 
has found several nests of this species every year, and says: ‘In fact, I 
believe they breed here as abundantly as in Wayne county, Oakland 
county or Ottawa county” (August 1906). 
The records from the Upper Peninsula are less satisfactory, yet it seems 
hardly possible that all observers who report this species can be entirely 
