TAWNY THRUSH; WILSON’S THRUSH; 
VEERY. 
TURDUS FUSCESCENS. 
OTWITHSTANDING Dr. Coues’s silence, and 
Wilson’s statement that this bird has “no song, 
but a sharp chuck,” the tawny thrush is a charming 
singer. His little song is very beautiful, especially at 
evening. I think we have no bird that sings so far into 
the dark; hence his popular title of the “American 
nightingale.” It is particularly difficult to describe his 
quality of tone. An appreciative woman perhaps nearest 
indicates its metallic charm when she writes, “It is a 
spiral, tremulous, silver thread of music.” There are 
‘eight tones in the song, the last two being on the same 
pitch as the first two. The beginning is very unusual, 
the first tone being on the second degree of the scale; 
and there is no breaking of the delicate “silver thread” 
from beginning to end: — 
This succession of sounds, so simple to the eye, be- 
comes, as it is performed, quite intricate to the ear; some- 
thing like the sweep of an accordion through the air. 
The first half of the song is deliberate; the latter half is 
slightly hurried. 
