LY TURDIDAE

WOOD THRUSH

_Hylocichla mustelina. Case 6, Fig. 74_

Head brighter than tail; underparts _white_,
heavily spotted with large, round black dots.
Largest of our Thrushes. L. 8-1/4.

_Range._ Nests from Florida and Texas north to
central Minnesota and southern New Hampshire;
winters in the tropics.

Washington, common S.R., Apl. 10-Oct. 10.
Ossining, common S.R., Apl. 30-Oct. 2. Cambridge,
locally common S.R., May 10-Sept. 15. N. Ohio,
common S.R., Apl. 20-Oct. 1. Glen Ellyn, fairly
common S.R., Apl. 30-Sept. 29 SE. Minn., common
S.R., May 1-Sept. 19.

Most familiar of our Thrushes. From late April to early August his
bell-like notes are heard, not only in the forest, but in wood-bordered
village streets and from the shade trees of our lawns. His sharp,
pebbly, _pit-pit_, is prominent in the chorus of protesting notes which
greet the Screech Owl should he leave his retreat before diurnal birds
have gone to bed.

The nest is usually built in small trees about 8 feet from the ground.
The 3-5 greenish blue eggs are laid in May. There is a second brood in
June.

VEERY

_Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens. Case 6, Fig. 73_

Upperparts, including tail, uniform
cinnamon-brown, breast buff with indistinct
brownish spots; sides white. L. 7-1/2.

_Range._ Nests from northern New Jersey and
northern Illinois into Canada and south in the
Alleghanies to Georgia; winters in the tropics. A
closely related western form, the Willow Thrush
(_H. f. salicicola_) nests in Minnesota and
westward, and migrates through the Mississippi
Valley. To the field naturalist it is essentially
the Veery.

Washington, common T.V., Apl. 26-June 2. Aug.
18-Sept. 25. Ossining, common S.R., Apl. 29-Sept.
5. Cambridge, locally abundant S.R., May 8-Sept.
5. N. Ohio, common S.R., Apl. 20-Oct. 1. Glen
Ellyn, tolerably common T.V., Apl. 24-May 29; Aug.
26-Sept. 3; SE. Minn., common S.R. May 5.

Low, wet woods with considerable undergrowth, where skunk cabbage and
hellebore flourish are the home of the Veery. Here he winds his
mysterious double-toned spiral song, and here, on the ground, hidden
beneath the rank vegetation, he builds his nest. Th