BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
325 
watery places. The sweet, ringing*, bell-like notes of this bird are such 
that it justly ranks as one of our most entertaining songsters. It builds 
a compact and rather large nest of mud, leaves and dried grasses in 
trees and bushes, usually in low or damp woods. The eggs, com¬ 
monly four, are light greenish blue, and measure about one inch long 
by three-fourths wide. The Wood Thrush feeds on numerous forms of 
insect life, it devours large numbers of beetles, earthworms, crickets, 
flies, larvae, etc., and also, like the Common Bobin, subsists on various 
small fruits and berries. 
Turdus fuscescens Steph. 
Wilson’s Thrush ; Veery ; Tawny Thrush. 
Description (Plate 100 ). 
Length about 7§ inches ; extent about 12± ; bill brownish ; basal half of mandible 
paler ; tarsi pale yellow r ish-brown, feet darker (dried skins). Above uniform red¬ 
dish brown ; no contrast between tail and back, no light ring about eye; sides of 
head grayish ; chin, upper part of throat whitish and generally without spots; mid¬ 
dle of abdominal region and under tail-coverts white ; sides shaded with grayish or 
pale olive; lower part of throat and breast buff-colored, and marked with small 
brownish spots ; tail and wing feathers brownish. 
Habitat. —Eastern United States to the plains, north to Manitoba, Ontario, Anti¬ 
costi, and Newfoundland. 
Bather common spring and fall migrant throughout the state ; occa¬ 
sionally, during mild winters, solitary individuals are met with in the 
southern portions of Pennsylvania. Wilson’s Thrush breeds sparingly 
in the northern and mountainous parts of the commonwealth. It has 
been found breeding within our limits by Dr. Detwiller, of Northamp¬ 
ton county; Mr. George P. Friant has also observed it, in summer, in 
Lackawanna county, and it also breeds, occasionally, Mr. Sennett tells 
me, in Crawford and Erie counties, where it is common during migra¬ 
tions. “Nest, on ground or near it, of leaves, grasses, etc., but no mud; 
eggs, four to five, greenish-blue like those of the Wood Bobin, normally 
unspotted, .90 by .60”—( Coues ). This bird, usually seen singly, but 
sometimes in small parties, frequents chiefly thick woods and swampy 
places. Feeds on insects, worms and berries. 
Turdus aliciae Baird. 
Gray-cheeked Thrush. 
Description (Plate 96). 
A little larger than the Olive-backed Thrush, from which it differs in having no 
yellowish ring round eye, and sides of head are grayish not yellowish. Jugulum 
more or less shaded with buff. 
Habitat.— Eastern North America, west to the plains, Alaska and eastern Siberia, 
north to the Arctic coast, south, in winter, to Costa Rica ; breeds chiefly north of the 
United States. 
