THE WOOD THRUSH

The Wood Thrush is the best known of these thrushes. It may be identified by its large size (a little over 8 inches); by its bright brown head, dull brown back, wings, and tail; white under parts that are heavily spotted, especially on the breast and sides; and by distinct streaks below the eyes.

Note: Its call-note is a sharp pit; its song a series of sweet cadences beginning with the liquid syllables ah-oh-ee?

Song: Four phrases often constitute the song, between which a soft purring sound is frequently heard, if one is near the singer.

Habitat: Wood thrushes may be found in open groves, parks, and wooded pastures, on large estates, and along secluded roads. They are rarely found near farm-buildings, but occasionally live in gardens and orchards.

A pair of thrushes once nested in a tree on a slope just back of a house where I chanced to be a guest. The mother-bird had begun her brooding, when carpenters arrived to build some steps near her chosen home. Frightened, she fled, and remained away for a time. Finally mother-love overcame her fears and she returned. The workmen were asked to do her no harm; they became interested in her, and she trustful of them. She let them approach within a few feet of her nest. We saw the shy wood-bird, serene and unafraid, raise her brood in the midst of noisy hammering, with friendly companionship close at hand.

THE OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH

The Olive-backed Thrush is about an inch smaller than the wood thrush (7 inches), and is uniformly olive-brown above. Its breast, throat, cheeks, and eye-ring are buff; its sides gray. The breast, sides of the throat, and cheeks are spotted with black.

Note: Its call-note is puck;

Song: its song pleasing, with a phrasing that reminds one of the hermit thrush, but it is louder and less deliberate, and lacks, also, the hermit’s liquid sweetness. The olive-back has a habit of singing from the pointed top of a tall spruce; near by, on a neighboring treetop, an olive-sided flycatcher may utter its Peep here, or a hermit may sing in the grove below.

Habitat: The olive-back lives in woods, rather than close to the haunts of man; it prefers to be near streams and swampy places, as does the western RUSSET-BACK THRUSH, a bird very similar in appearance and habits.

Range: The olive-back breeds in Canada and northern United States, and winters from Mexico to South America.

THE GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH AND BICKNELL’S THRUSHES

Gray-Cheeked Thrush: “The Gray-cheeked Thrush is found in migration over all the Eastern States, but breeds farther north, beyond our limits.

Bicknell’s Thrush: “Bicknell’s Thrush, a closely related form, while having somewhat the same general range, breeds farther south and nests in the mountains of northern New York and New England. The species does not seem to be very abundant anywhere.”[158]

Their resemblance to each other and to the olive-back makes them difficult to identify. The absence of buff from the head differentiates them from the latter species, which is a difference not readily observed except by experienced ornithologists. Bicknell’s thrush is smaller than the gray-cheeked thrush.

THE VEERY

The Veery or Wilson’s Thrush is slightly smaller than the wood thrush (7½ inches), and is a lighter and more uniform brown above. It has a whitish throat and belly, and grayish sides. The breast and sides of the throat are a soft buff, with faint spots of brown. Its light brown upper parts and its less conspicuous markings distinguish the veery from other thrushes.

Note: Its call-note is a whistled whee'-u,—loud, clear, and uttered frequently.

Song: The song is inexpressibly beautiful,—like organ-chords, or those that fill the Baptistery of Pisa when the Italian guide blends tones for the delight of listeners. A veery’s song cannot be described; the whee'-u may reveal the singer’s whereabouts, and aid in identification. This bird has brought me pleasure many times, for it forms one of the chorus that sing their matin- and even-songs in a spruce grove across the road from our cottage in Maine. Still other veeries chant with hermit thrushes in more distant woods.

It recalls, also, memories of deep Adirondack woods near Seventh Lake, where we heard veeries and wood thrushes sing antiphonally at sunset.

Range: This thrush is abundant in the eastern United States during its migration, while on the way to its nesting place in our Northern States, to New England, and Canada. It winters in South America.

It seems to bear a charmed life. It does no harm and receives none; it is a favorite wherever its voice is heard.

THE HERMIT THRUSH

The Hermit Thrush may be described in superlatives. Of the four commoner thrushes, it comes earliest (in March or early April) on its way to its haunts in northern woods, remains longest (till October or November), and is considered by many to be the finest singer of a highly gifted family.

It is so very shy that it is rarely seen and yet, during migration time, I once discovered a solitary hermit in a tree on a vacant lot only a few blocks from the business center of Cleveland. Because we sit quietly for hours at a time in the Maine woods, we have been vouchsafed many glimpses of its olive-brown back, its reddish-brown tail (the mark of identification), and its rather thickly spotted white and brown breast. We have noticed its habit of raising its tail as it alighted; we have heard its call-note chuck.

Moore’s Rock, Castine, Maine, commands an enchanting view of Penobscot Bay, of distant hills, and of spruce woods that are tenanted by veeries, olive-backed, and hermit thrushes. There we make frequent pilgrimages, to hear them sing at sunset.