The Varied Thrushes 
female slips quietly from the nest and joins her mate in denouncing 
the intruder. The birds flit restlessly from branch to branch, or from 
log to log, uttering repeatedly a stern tsook, which is almost their sole 
recourse. If the nest is discovered and examined, the birds will dis¬ 
appear silently; and the chances are that they will never again be seen 
in that locality. But the degree of interest 
evinced by the nesting birds varies 
interminably. Once a 
Thrush was startled from the 
side of the government road 
in Rainier National Park. 
Upon an approach he re¬ 
moved with a low chuck, 
and flew down the high¬ 
way to a distant point. 
Now and then he made 
sallies into the timber, 
and we saw before long 
that he was accumulat¬ 
ing a billful of comes¬ 
tibles. But as often as 
we lost him, he bobbed up 
serenely at some lower 
station on the trail. 
In this fashion this 
curious or vigilant 
fowl piloted us for at 
least half a mile. 
Whether he was con¬ 
sciously trying to 
decoy us, or merely 
anticipating our 
plans by some sort 
of subtle telepathy, 
I do not know. 
A neighboring 
pair evinces such 
anxiety that we are 
led to a little fir sap¬ 
ling which, emerging 
from a four foot snow 
b a n k , holds aloft, 
Taken in Washington 
"THE VARIED THRUSH BUILDS . . 
Photo by the Author 
THE OPEN OF THE UNDERWOOD” 
