u I found it mostTabundant in the woods bordering the streams and creeks of Northern Ulifrois:
There it prefers for its hreeding-place pieces of woodland containing masses of dense thickets. In
my native State—Wisconsin—the Wood-Thrush is a somewhat shy bird, which regularly breeds in
deep forest recesses, but in Northern Illinois it departs considerably from such habits, and although
not breeding in gardens near to man, I occasionally found nests in woods close to an orchard. In
the East nests have been repeatedly found in gardens, and my friend Mr. O. Widmann informs mé
that this bird often nests even within the city limits of St. Louis.
“ The Wood-Thrush rarely appears in its northern home before the middle of May—often some
■days later—at the time when the first flower-buds open upon the apple-trees. It usually remains
for the first few days after its arrival in dense undergrowth. Were it not for hearing repeatedly the
far-sounding delightful ‘ Eolie 5 or ‘ Hallowlee/ one would hardly know that this famous vocalist
had returned home again. Besides this common song-like call it utters a low ‘ tu ck’ or ‘ tack/
and a quickly reiterated * tuck tuck tuck tuck/ which is especially frequent after its arrival and is'
perhaps intended as a love-cail to its mate. Only when it sings does it perch, on a tree-top and
pour forth its exquisite song. Usually it selects such a seat at a considerable distance from the
nest, and returns to it very often. When disturbed it suddenly dives into the underwood.
“ Formerly this Thrush nested very abundantly in the woods along the Calumet and Des Plaines
River near Chicago. These woods consist mostly of oaks, tall elms, lindens, black walnut and ash
trees. Dense hawthorn bushes, intertwined with wild grape-vines and virgin’s bower (Clematis
virginica), Juneberry trees, dogwood, elder, black haw, hazel-copses and beautiful wild crab-trees,
make up the underwood, which stands in clustered masses, forming dense thickets with sunny
openings here and there. In these rather damp places our vocalist chooses his regular domicile.
“ In their northern habitat these birds commence nest-building usually in the first week iri
June. All the nests I found were from four to six, more rarely as high as fifteen feet from thé
ground. The first and only nest near a human dwelling I found June 17th, 1876, at River
Forest (Illinois), about a quarter of a mile from Des Plaines River. It was placed in a wild crab-
tree (Pyrus coronaria) growing on the edge of the woods right at the back of an orchard, and was
about thirteen feet from the ground. All the other nests discovered by me were more' in the depths
of the woods. In the following year I found the nests particularly numerous in that part of the
forest (then called Hase’s Park) traversed by the Des Plaines River. It was a beautiful piece of
woodland, since converted into large cemeteries. Here I found this Thrush more common than
ever before, even more abundant than the Robin. Excepting the Cat-bird, the Wood-Thrush was
here the most frequent nesting species. In a part of the woods comprising about one and a half acres,
partly shaded by broad-spreading forest-trees where the thickets were crowded together, I found in
three hours three nests of this Thrush. Two were in the immediate neighbourhood of an extensive,
much tangled thicket, in which there were'also two Cat-birds’ and a Black-billed Cuckoo’s nest. Onè
structure on the east side of the thicket was very near a Cat-bird’s nest. It was placed on a small
tree about five feet from the ground, and contained three eggs. The structure was very loosely built
of grass-stems, bark-strips and dead leaves ; in the inside of this was placed a cup of black mud
lined with delicate rootlets and a few grass-blades. It contained three greenish-blue eggs. The
second nest on the north side of the thicket was hardly fifty steps from the first. It was placed
in a small hawthorn about six feet from the ground and contained only two eggs. It differed
but little from the first. The third nest I discovered on the ‘ Indian Mound,’ a little elevation
in the woods said to have been a burial-place of the Indians. This nest was situated in à
dense black haw ( Viburnum prv/neifolium), about six feet from the ground, and contained four
uniformly greenish-blue eggs. It was much more carefully constructed than the other two, though
composed of the same materials. The sitting female was so tame that I almost touched her with
my hand before she started from the nest. Without a cry of distress she disappeared in the.
shrubbery and noiselessly returned when I had stopped. Strange to say, the male did not. make his
appearance in the neighbourhood of the nest.
In Wisconsin the Wood-Thrush prefers to build in young white pine and hemlock copses.
Here the structure is usually from four • to eight feet from the ground, close to the trunk on a.
horizontal branch.
“ Like all species of the genus, the Wood-Thrush is one of the most useful of birds. The bulk,
of its food consists of insects, especially of all kinds of worms, caterpillars, grasshoppers, &c., which
it looks for on the ground. It eats all kinds of berries too, especially such as grow in its bushy home.
The young are fed with insects only. The male assists its mate but little in building the nest, and
does not help at all in brooding. He has to participate actively, however, in bringing up the young.
As there is only one brood in the North in a season, the young are under the protection of the
parents long after they have left the nest. The whole family seems to keep regularly together till
the time for their migration. Then a few families from the neighbourhood collect, and some time
between the middle and latter part of September they all start off on their journey southward.
“ They appear in the coast-region of Texas, according to my own observations, in great numbers
by the beginning of October, at the time when the cones of the Magnolia grandiflora glow invitingly
with their wealth of beautiful vermilion aromatic seeds. The flesh of these Thrushes is said to
acquire a peculiarly delicious flavor from this fruit, on which account many thousands are annually
killed by the creoles of Louisiana, where these and other species of this family, as well as the To.whee
Bunting, are commonly called ‘ grassets.’ ”
Mr. Stearns has an interesting note on the species in his ‘ New England Bird Life ’ :—“ The
favourite localities of the Wood-Thrush are the borders of dense thickets, or low damp hollows
shaded by large trees, yet its habits are by no means so retiring, or its nature so timid, as these
places of resort would lead us to infer. A small grove in Roxburg, now a part of Boston, in close
proximity to a dwelling-house, was for many years the favourite resort of these birds, where several
pairs nested and reared their young, rarely even leaving their nests, which were mostly in low bushes,
wholly unmindful of the curious children who were their frequent visitors. The same fearless
familiarity-was observed at Mount Auburn, then first used as a public cemetery. But in the latter
instance the nest was always placed high up on a branch of some spreading tree,, often in a
conspicuous place, but out of reach. Mr. J. A. Allen refers to several similar instances where the
Wood-Thrush did not show itself to be such a recluse as many describe it. In one case a pair built
their nest within the limits of a thickly-peopled village, where there were but few trees and a scanty
undergrowth. In another a Wood-Thrush lived for several successive summers among the elms and
maples of Court Square in the City of Springfield, Mass., undisturbed by the passers-by or the walkers
beneath, or the noise of the vehicles in the contiguous streets.
“ The song of this Thrush is one of its most remarkable and. pleasing characteristics. No lover
of sweet sounds can have failed to notice it, and, having once known -its source, no one can fail to
recognize it when heard again. The melody is one of great sweetness and power and consists of
several parts, the last note of which resembles the tinkling of a small bell, and seems to leave the
conclusion suspended. Each part of its song seems sweeter and richer than the preceding.
“ The nest is usually built on thé horizontal branch of a small forest-tree, six or eight feet from
the ground, and, less frequently, in the fork of a bush. The diameter is about 5 inches, and the
depth 3£, with a cavity averaging 3 inches across by 2^ in depth. They are firm, compact structures,
chiefly composed of decayed deciduous leaves,, closely impacked together, and apparently thus
combined when in a moistened condition, and afterwards dried into a firmness and strength like
that of parchment. These are intermingled with, and strengthened by, a few dry twigs, and the