THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 395 
     
    
   
   
    
     KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A. Tail blue; back blue or bluish . . . . . . . . . 766. BLUEBIRD. 
     
     B. Tail black or blackish tipped with white . . . . . . . 761. ROBIN. 
     
     0'. Tail white, tipped with black. . . . . . . . . . 765. WHEATEAR. 
     
    
   
   
    
     1). Tail olive-brown or rufous, without white spots. 
     
     0. Upper parts cinnamon-brown; tail not brighter than the back. 
     
     a1. Entire under parts, including sides, more or less heavily marked with 
     
     round, black spots; back brighter than tail . . 755. Woon THRusn. 
     
     a". Throat and upper breast pale buffy, with small, cinnamon-brown, 
     
     wedge- shaped spots; belly pure white; sides with a barely perceptible 
     
     grayish wash . . . . . . . . 756. WILsON’ s Tnansn. 
     
     1). Upper parts olive; back and tail nearly the same color. 
     
     b1. Throat, breast, cheeks, eye- ring, and lores deep cream- -bufi'. 
     
     758a. OLIVE- BACKED Tnnusn. 
     
     b’ Throat, breast cheeks, eye, and space before the eye white, with only 
     
     a very slight buffy tinge. 
     
     757. GRAY-CHEEKED THRUBH. 757a. BICKNELL‘s anwsn. 
     
     c. Upper parts olive—brown, sometimes inclining to cinnamon; upper tail- 
     
     coverts and tail rufous . . . . . . . . . . 7591). HERMIT Tunusn. 
     
    
   
   
    
     755. Turdus mustellnus Gmel. Woon THRUSH. Ad.—Upper parts 
     
     bright cinnamon-brown, brightest on the head, and changing gradually to pale 
     
     olive-brown on the upper tail—coverts and tail; under parts white, thickly 
     
     marked with large, round black spots except on the throat and middle of the 
     
     belly. L., 8'29; W., 444; T., 2'92; 13., '65. 
     
    

    
     Remarks—The Wood Thrush may be distinguished from our other 
     
     Thrushes (1) by its larger size; (2) by its brighter, more rufous color above; 
     
     and (3) especially by the numerous large, round black spots on its under 
     
     parts. These cover not only the breast, but are equally numerous on the 
     
     sides, where they extend well up under the wings. 
     
    

    
     Range—Eastern United States; breeds as far north as Minnesota, Ver- 
     
     mont, and Quebec; winters in Central America. 
     
    

    
     Washington, common S. R., Apl. 20 to Oct. 15. Sing Sing, common S. R., 
     
     Apl. 30 to Oct. 2. Cambridge, rather common S. R., May 12 to Sept. 15. 
     
    

    
     Nest, of leaves, rootlets, fine twigs, and weed stalks, firmly interwoven, 
     
     with an inner wall of mud and lining of fine rootlets, generally in saplings, 
     
     about eight feet up. Eggs, three to five, greenish blue, lighter and with less 
     
     green than those of the Catbird, averaging lighter, but not certainly distin- 
     
     guishable in color from those of the Robin, 105 x '7 6. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Wood Thrush is not so distinctively a. bird of the woods as the ‘ 
     
     Veery. Well-shaded lawns are sometimes graced by his presence, and 
     
     at all times he is more familiar and easier to observe than his retiring 
     
     relative. His large size, bright cinnamon upper parts, and especially 
     
     his conspicuously spotted breast and sides, are his most striking field 
     
     characters. 
     
    

    
     When excited, his usual callvnote, pit-pit, is rapidly repeated until