Six members of the Thrush Family are more or less common in the eastern United States: the Robin, the Bluebird, the Wood Thrush, the Hermit Thrush, the Olive-backed Thrush, and the Veery. The Gray-cheeked and Bicknell’s thrushes are not so widely known. The Russet-backed Thrush is the western representative of the Olive-back.
The Oven-bird, or Golden-crowned Thrush, and the Water-thrushes are not thrushes at all, but warblers, though they resemble thrushes in having brown backs and light spotted breasts, and in being dwellers of the woods. The Brown Thrasher, sometimes wrongly called the Brown Thrush, also has points of resemblance—a speckled breast and bright brown back—but he is one of the Mimidæ or Mockingbird Family.
The breasts of young robins and the backs of baby bluebirds are spotted, showing their family relationship. Both robins and bluebirds have voices that possess a quality for which our thrushes are noted. I have heard the English thrush, famed in poetry. I consider its song inferior in quality of tone to those of our wood and hermit-thrushes, and veery; it strongly resembles that of our thrasher.
The true thrushes of our woods have backs of leaf-brown, varying in hue from bright russet to dull olive. Their breasts are white or buff, streaked or spotted; their tails are short; their eyes, large and lustrous. Their movements are quick, yet graceful. Their demeanor is gentle, though I have seen them strongly aroused when nest or young was disturbed.
WOOD THRUSH
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.