THE BIRD BOOK 
753 . Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. Poli- 
optila calif ornica. 
Range. — Pacific coast of southern California 
and northern Lower California. 
This bird is very similar to the last but has 
still less white on the outer tail feathers. Like 
the last, the nests of this spe- 
cies usually lack the exterior 
covering of lichens, being made 
of vegetable fibres and plant 
down, firmly quilted together and 
saddled on horizontal limbs or ^ 
placed in forks of trees at any <Trayisl w 11 e 
height from the ground. Their eggs are grayish 
white, specked with bright reddish brown. 
Size .55 x .44. Data. — Escondido, Cal., May 17, 
1903. 5 eggs. Nest on a large limb of a syca- 
more, 30 feet above ground; made of weed 
fibres, etc., lined with hair and fine fibres. 
THRUSHES, SOLITAIRES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. Family TURDIDAE 
754 . Townsend’s Solitaire. Myadestes townsendi. 
Range. — Western United States, breeding from Arizona, New Mexico and 
southern California north to British Columbia. 
This unique species is of a uniform brownish gray color, with a white eye 
ring, narrow bar on wing, and outer tail feathers, and 
with the bases of the primaries rusty colored. It is a 
ground inhabiting bird, feeding upon insects and berries 
in shrubbery and thickets. Their song is said to be liquid, 
melodious and often long continued, equalling that of any 
other bird. They nest on the ground in hollows under 
banks or crevices about roots of trees or fallen stumps, 
making a large, loosely constructed pile of weeds and 
trash, hollowed and lined with rootlets. The three or 
four eggs, which are laid in June, are grayish white, 
spotted with pale brown, chiefly or most abundantly about the large end. Size 
.96 x.70. 
755 . Wood Thrush. Hylocichla musteline. 
Range. — Eastern United States, breeding from North Carolina and Kansas 
north to northern United States; winters south of our borders. 
This Thrush with his brightly spotted breast is the most handsome of this 
group of musical birds. They are common in damp woods 
and thickets, in which places they breed, placing their 
nests of straw, leaves and grasses in low trees usually be- 
tween four and ten feet from the ground; their nests are 
often very rustic, being ornamented by pieces of paper 
and twigs with dead leaves attached handing from the 
sides of the quite bulky structures. During May or June 
they lay three or four greenish blue eggs of about the 
shade of a Robin’s. Size 1.05 x .70. 
Greenish blue 
Grayish white 
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