“ Varyiug estimates have been made of the Veery’s powers of song. For myself, I rate this
bird as one of the sweetest of our songsters, of whose ‘ clear bell-like notes, resonant, distinct, yet
soft and of indescribable sadness,’ I have spoken on a former occasion. I think Dr. Brewer’s
faint praise the most cruelly unjust of all; can he ever have heard the Veery’s full utterance, and
then have written: * The song of this Thrush is quaint, but not unmusical; variable in its
character, changing from a prolonged and monotonous whistle to quick and almost shrill notes at
the close’? He speaks as he might of a hurdy-gurdy, instead of an exquisite oboe. No one of
the voices of the woodland is less quaint than the Veery’s; no one is truer to its theme, more
measured in its cadences, or softer and clearer in its tone than that of the Veery—rival of the Olive-
back, the Hermit, and the Wood-Thrush, completing the quartette of silver-tongued cantatrices, who
pledge the promises of spring-time in choral symphony.”
Mr. Nehrling’s notes are as follows:—“ According to my experience the Veery is shy and
circumspect, more retiring and fonder of solitude than the Wood-Thrush, and consequently rarer
in woods often frequented by man. As a rule it is found only in the deepest seclusion. It chooses
for its haunts and nesting-place more swampy and damper spots than its congener, the Wood-
Thrush. It may be said that the last-named species inhabits the high and low woods, Wilson’s
Thrush the damp woods, and the Hermit the swampy woods of middle and northern Wisconsin,
notwithstanding that all three species sometimes occur close together. The Veery’s home is in one
of the most delightful and beautiful parts of the woods. It is always found in the neighbourhood of
water, either close to a rushing rivulet wandering under thick shrubbery, near a thick gurgling
spring, or a pond. In such places vegetation is always luxuriant and dense, with here and there
open spots overgrown with moss, ground-pine (Lycopodium), and winter-green ( Gaultheriaprocumbens).
The admirer of the beauties in . nature is struck by the wonderful forms of magnificent ferns,
especially Osmunda cinnamomea, Calapogon pulchellus, Spiranthes, Cypripedium, &c., the varied
orchids {Aretlmsa bulbosa) rising from the peaty ground in full splendour, the curious pitcher-plant
(.Sarracenia purpurea), the numerous huckleberry bushes covered with lovely bell-shaped flowers,
the many different blossoms along the edge of the stream, from among which the dazzling red, and
later the blue lobelias (Lobelia cardinalis and L. syphilitica) shine forth with the greatest
brilliancy. The large wide-spreading forest-trees overshadow whole thickets of cranberry, wild
gooseberry, dogwood, and other bushes. In the region of mixed woods, the pine and hemlock
thickets greatly heighten the charms of the scene. In the sunlight falling through the high trees
myriads of mosquitoes, gnats, and other water-loving insects hover. The whole forest ground is
covered with old, completely moss-grown logs which have almost turned to soil. One sinks almost
to the knees into the decomposing mass, which is the very life-spring of the rich plant-growth.
Except in the hummock woods of Florida, I have never seen such beautifully luxuriant vegetation.
This is the true home of our Veery. Here the female finds her mate, who has arrived a few days
earlier; here the beautiful song sounds through the forest, here the nest-is built, and the young
raised. In this silent solitude the Veery must be sought, if the friend of nature, and especially
of bird-life, would make its acquaintance. Care, however, is taken by the endless swarms of
blood-thirsty mosquitoes that man shall not enter this seclusion with impunity. I think it is
just the haunts chosen by this Thrush that are the cause of its being considered rarer than it
really is.
“ The Veery is one of the most exquisite songsters of its forest solitude. It is in truth a rival
of the Hermit, the Olive-back, and the Wood-Thrush. One hardly knows to which to award the
palm. In many respects the Veery’s song reminds one of the Wood-Thrush, but it is not-so loud
and flute-like, and seems to be more modulated. The bird sings so diligently that it is often heard
long after sunset. Hence in some places in New England the bird has been called the ‘ Nightingale.’
The sounds ‘woit, woit’ are often distinctly heard in the song, and these are'especially uttered’
very powerfully and with wonderful harmony. All our present ornithologists praise the song of
the Veery. Prof. E. Eidgway, who heard it in the mountains of the West, describes it as really
inspiring, the song consisting of an inexpressibly delicate metallic utterance of the syllables
ta-weeldh, ta-weel'ah, 1/miVdh, twil’ah, accompanied by a .fine trill which rendered it truly
seductive.”
The following note is taken from Mr. E. P. Bicknell’s paper on the “ Singing of Birds ” (Auk
i. p. 129) '
“ Contrary to what we find to be true of most of our summer birds, Wilson’s Thrush seems
often to remain silent for some days after its arrival in the spring; although this is not invariably
the case. Though it comes to us but little later than the Wood-Thrush, its song in some years
may not be heard until two weeks after that of the latter bird ; and yet we lose it fully a month
earlier. With Wilson’s Thrush singing continues regularly through the month of June and into
the early part of July, but after this time is not commonly heard, and soon has entirely ceased.
Por several years dates of final songs have been entered in my books between July 10 and 15 ■
though a single song may sometimes be heard later in the month. July 21, 22, and 26 are the"
latest dates that I have recorded. Often in the first, or even the second week of July, though
singing is so soon to cease, the vocal impulse seems to be at its height, and our tbiclr swamps and
low woods sound with the continually reiterated songs of numbers of these fine-voiced Thrushes."
These birds are so much oftener heard than seen that after they have become silent they are not
often observed ; but not until the end of September have they all left us.
“ By the end of August the plumage has been renewed and the birds are very fat. But
specimens may be taken at this time, and, indeed, through September, showing a slight activity of
death er-growth.”
The following descriptions are taken from specimens in the British Museum :__
Adult male. General colour above rufous or tawny-brown, the head like the back and the
rump and upper tail-coverts also rufescent like the rest of the back ; wing-coverts like the back
the quills light dusky-brown, externally like the back, or slightly paler on the edges of thè
primaries ; tail dusky-brown, washed with reddish-brown, so that it is almost exactly of the same
-tint as the back; lores and feathers in front of and round the eye ashy-whitish; ear-coverts light
dusky-brown, with a tinge of rufous, and faint shaft-streaks of ashy-fulvous; cheeks and entire
throat pale.tawny-buff, whiter towards the chin, which is unspotted; on the lower throat and
fore-neck some small triangular spots of dusky-brown ; the cheeks separated from the throat by a
moustachial stripe of dusky-brown spots ; remainder of under surface of body white from the foreneck
downwards, and including the under tail-poverts ; the sides of the body clear dusky-grey, with
a few indistinct spots of the same colour. Total length 6'8 inches, culmen 0'7, win» S'S, tail'2-75
tarsus 1*1.
Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 7 inches.
Old birds after their autumn moult are scarcely to bet distinguished from their spring plumage
but may be a little more tawny-buff on the throat and have a slight shade of the same colour on
the sides of the body. The females generally, but not invariably, show the spots on the throat less
distinctly marked.
When the plumage becomes worn in the breeding-season, the russet-tint of the upper surface
disappears to a great extent, and the .bird becomes browner.: It then becomes very difficult to
distinguish Turdus fusceseens from the race which Mr. Eidgway has named T. salicicola.
Young birds after their first moult may be distinguished by the very distinct tawny spots on
the ends of the median and greater wing-coverts, and these are often pronounced in specimens