632 Notes on the Thrushes of Washington Territory. [October, 
val no song is heard, then a low succession of notes comes from 
the thicket copse, as if he were trying his organs and training 
them for the grand concert to come. As time passes, these notes 
increase in strength, and by the first of June, when his mate has 
joined him and the site for their summer’s nest is chosen, he 
seems enraptured by his own powers, as with quivering wings he 
pours forth a volume of song that seems to vibrate the green 
leaves of his surroundings. 
You may hear him; but will seldom see him, so shy is he. 
Once, when this thrush was so absorbed in his own performance 
that he scarce seemed to notice me, I succeeded in getting directly 
under him, He sat ona limb about ten feet above me; first 
stretching himself up, he would utter a loud note similar to the 
last syllable of the bob-white quail, the “ white” ending with the 
rising inflection ; this was the prelude ; then would follow a suc- 
cession of notes impossible to describe, and which I can only 
compare to the vibrations of a wire or bell when struck, the undu- 
lations of sound gradually decreasing in volume and rapidity to 
the end. It seemed coming from a direction I could not deter- 
mine, and as if broken in a thousand fragments on the surround- 
ing shrubbery. 
During the month of June the nest is constructed. It is 
oftenest found in low grounds, where the water stands during the 
winter, but at this season is dried up. Sometimes it is placed on 
the horizontal branch of a fallen tree, at other times in a small 
bush, and generally from three to six feet from the ground. It is 
‘simple in construction, being composed almost entirely of moss, 
about three inches in its inner diameter by two inches in depth. 
‘The eggs, four or five in number, are 44 of an inch in length by 
41 of an inch in breadth, with a pale blue ground spotted all over 
„with light reddish-brown. This I suppose to be the main breed- 
ing grounds of this thrush; their nests are found everywhere in 
the thickets of the lowlands, while during the early morning and 
the evening, from the dense forest and the thickest copse, and 
every sequestered grove, come the strains of this prince of the 
birds of song; who, as if loth to desist, often prolongs his song 
until after sunset, when the shades of night have thrown a weird 
gloom over the depths of the forest. 
