VARIED THRUSH (Ixoreus naevius). 



Length, about 10 inches. Its large size and dark 

 slate-colored upper parts, black breast collar, orange 

 brown stripe over eye and orange brown under parts 

 mark this thrush apart from all others. 



Range : Breeds on the Pacific coast from Yakutat 

 Bay, Alaska, south to Humboldt County, California; 

 winters from southern Alaska to northern Cali- 

 fornia. 



This, one of our largest and finest thrushes, is 

 limited to the west coast, where it finds a con- 

 genial summer home in the depths of the coniferous 

 forests, the mystery and loneliness of which seem 

 reflected in its nature. Although the varied thrush 

 somewhat suggests our robin, it is much shyer, 

 and its habits and notes are very different, makingit 

 more nearly akin to the small olive thrushes. It 

 nests in the conifers, and its eggs, unlike those of 

 the robin, are heavily blotched with brown. Its 

 song, a single long-drawn note, has been greatly 

 praised, and seems entirely in harmony with the 

 bird's surroundings, being weird and inspiring. In 

 winter the varied thrush abandons the forest and 

 with it many of the habits of the recluse, and visits 

 more open districts, including ravines and even 

 gardens, where it becomes quite familiar. 



This thrush, like its smaller brethren, feeds chiefly 

 on the ground, and its food is largely of vegetable 

 nature, but includes a fair proportion of insects, 

 with millepeds and snails. Unless its habits are 

 greatly modified by the encroachment of civiliza- 

 tion on its domain it is not likely to be much of a 

 factor in agricultural affairs, but it will continue 

 to make itself useful by destroying the insect enemies 

 of forest trees. 



VEERY (Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens). 



Length, about 7i inches. To be known from the 

 other small thrushes by its uniform cinnamon brown 

 upper parts and its faint brown breast markings. 



Range: Breeds from northern Michigan, central 

 Ontario and Newfoundland south to northern 

 Illinois, northern Indiana, northern Ohio and New 

 Jersey; and in the Alleghenies south to North 

 Carolina and northern Georgia; winters in South 

 America. 



Far more retiring than either the wood thrush or 

 the hermit, the veery must be sought in the seclusion 

 of the swamp or swampy woodland, far from the 

 recesses of which he rarely ventures. Much of his 

 time he spends on the ground, for on or near it he 

 finds his chosen fare. Though trim in form and clad 

 in a garb of modest color as befits his nature, the 

 veery appeals less to the bird lover's eye than to his 

 ear. Though some of his relatives are classed among 

 the most famous of American songsters, the veery 

 may fairly claim place in the front rank, and his 

 wild, mysterious and all-pervading notes touch 

 certain chords in the human breast which respond 

 to the song of no other of our birds. 



The food of the veery does not differ essentially 

 from that of the other small thrushes and includes a 

 great variety of small wild fruits and insects. As it 

 rarely visits the orchard or farm its insect-eating 

 habits have little direct bearing on the farmer's 

 interest, although indirectly the bird contributes 

 its share to the beneficial work of staying the super- 

 abundant tide of insect life. It does, however, eat 

 many weevils, and among them the notorious plum 

 curculio. 



WOOD THRUSH (Hylocichla mustelina). 



Length, about 8j inches. To be distinguished 

 among its fellows by its more bulky form, by the 



golden brown head, bright cinnamon upper parts, 

 and the large round black spots beneath, sharply 

 contrasting with the pure white. 



Range: Breeds from southern South Dakota, 

 central Minnesota, central Wisconsin, southern 

 Ontario and southern New Hampshire south to east- 

 ern Texas, Louisiana and northern Florida; winters 

 from southern Mexico to Central America. 



The wood thrush finds its way to our hearts and 

 sympathies more through its voice than its presence, 

 and whoever has failed to hear its clear flute-like 

 tones rising from the woodland depths as the mists 

 of evening gather has missed a rich treat. It is no 

 doubt true that the Hermit Thrush is a more 

 finished performer, but that chorister reserves his 

 music chiefly for the northern wilds while our wood 

 thrush favors more southern lands. Moreover, the 

 hermit is a true recluse and must be sought in the 

 deeper forest, its chosen home, while its more south- 

 ern cousin lives in comparatively open woodland 

 and does not disdain to take up i ts summer residence 

 in parks and gardens. The music of the one is for 

 the favored few, while the song of the other is almost 

 as well known as that of the brown thrasher. 



Like most of the tribe, the wood thrush obtains 

 its food chiefly from the ground, where it spends 

 much of its time searching among the leaves. In- 

 sects with a small percentage of fruit, chiefly wild 

 varieties, compose its fare. Among the insects are 

 cutworms and other caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers 

 and beetles, including the Colorado potato beetle. 

 Thus the bird deserves a high place in our esteem 

 for both esthetic and economic reasons. 



BUSH-TIT (Psaltriparus minimus 



and sub-species). 



Length, from 4 to 4} inches. 



Range: Pacific coast from southern British 

 Columbia to the Cape Region of Lower California, 

 and eastward to the interior of Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia; nests generally throughout its range. 



This pigmy among birds has many of the char- 

 acteristic habits of the chickadee family, of which 

 it is the smallest member. Extremely sociable, 

 bush-tits move about in large flocks, occasionally in 

 company with other birds, generally without. One 

 moment you are alone, the next moment the trees 

 and bushes are full of these diminutive little busy- 

 bodies that scan you with their curious bead-like 

 eyes as they hurry on in quest of food, keeping up 

 the while a constant calling and twittering. Their 

 pendant nests, often attached to oak trees, suggest 

 the well-known structure of our hang-bird or Balti- 

 more oriole, and are excellent specimens of bird 

 architecture. 



The few western states favored by the presence of 

 this bird are to be congratulated, as more than half 

 its animal food consists of insects and spiders, 

 nearly all of which are harmful. Among the insects 

 are many tree bugs, Hemiptera, which contain our 

 most dreaded insect pests, such as the black olive 

 scale and other scales equally destructive. The 

 bush-tit is also a persistent foe of the codling moth 

 in all its stages. 



(See Farmers' Bui. 54, p. 44; also Bui. .30, pp. 



517 



