"With what a clear
And ravishing sweetness sang the plaintive Thrush;
I love to hear his delicate rich voice,
Chanting through all the gloomy day, when loud
Amid the trees is dropping the big rain,
And gray mists wrap the hill; foraye the sweeter
His song is when the day is sad and dark."
So many common names has the Wood Thrush that he would seem to be quite
well known to every one. Some call him the Bell Thrush, others Bell
Bird, others again Wood Robin, and the French Canadians, who love his
delicious song, Greve des Bois and Merle Taune. In spite of all this,
however, and although a common species throughout the temperate portions
of eastern North America, the Wood Thrush can hardly be said to be a
well-known bird in the same sense as the Robin, the Catbird, or other
more familiar species; "but to every inhabitant of rural districts his
song, at least, is known, since it is of such a character that no one
with the slightest appreciation of harmony can fail to be impressed by
it."
Some writers maintain that the Wood Thrush has a song of a richer and
more melodious tone than that of any other American bird; and that, did
it possess continuity, would be incomparable.
Damp woodlands and shaded dells are favorite haunts of this Thrush, but
on some occasions he will take up his residence in parks within large
cities. He is not a shy bird, yet it is not often that he ventures far
from the wild wood of his preference.
The nest is commonly built upon a horizontal branch of a low tree, from
six to ten--rarely much more--feet from the ground. The eggs are from
three to five in number, of a uniform greenish color; thus, like the
nest, resembling those of the Robin, except that they are smaller.
In spite of the fact that his name indicates his preference for the
woods, we have seen this Thrush, in parks and gardens, his brown back
and spotted breast making him unmistakable as he hops over the grass for
a few yards, and pauses to detect the movement of a worm, seizing it
vigorously a moment after.
He eats ripening fruits, especially strawberries and gooseberries, but
no bird can or does destroy so many snails, and he is much less an enemy
than a friend of the gardener. It would be well if our park
commissioners would plant an occasional fruit tree--cherry, apple, and
the like--in the public parks, protecting them from the ravages of every
one except the birds, for whose sole benefit they should be set aside.
The trees would also serve a double purpose of ornament and use, and the
youth who grow up in the city, and rarely ever see an orchard, would
become familiar with the appearance of fruit trees. The birds would
annually increase in numbers, as they would not only be attracted to the
parks thereby, but they would build their nests and rear their young
under far more favorable conditions than now exist. The criticism that
birds are too largely destroyed by hunters should be supplemented by the
complaint that they are also allowed to perish for want of food,
especially in seasons of unusual scarcity or severity. Food should be
scattered through the parks at proper times, nesting boxes provided--not
a few, but many--and then
The happy mother of every brood
Will twitter notes of gratitude.