Citizen Bird Part 12

A Citizen of the United States and Canada.

A Ground Gleaner, Tree Trapper, and Seed Sower.

THE WOOD THRUSH

One pleasant evening after tea, but before sunset, the Doctor sent Nat to ask Rap to come up to the Farm, as they were all going for a walk through the orchard and the river woods.

"What birds will you tell us about to-night?" asked Dodo, as they stood in the porch waiting for the boys.

"Cousins of the Bluebird--more cousins--but really the heads of the Silver-tongued Family. They wear much plainer clothes than the Bluebirds and Robins, on their olive or russet-brown backs and light-tinted, dark-spotted b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but have the most beautiful voices in all Birdland. The names of these wonderful singers, who make a musical quartette, are Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Wilson's Thrush, and Olive-backed Thrush; but you will have to keep both your eyes and ears open to learn to tell them apart and name them rightly."

"There has been the beautifullest bird singing in the big elm on the lawn for more than an hour, but I don't know his name and I want to ever so much. Do you think he might be one of these Thrushes? He is singing now, Uncle Roy." And Dodo began tugging at the Doctor's hand, to lead him down the steps. They saw Nat and Rap coming along the road, and the Doctor motioned to them to walk quietly, so that Dodo's bird might continue his song.

"What is it? What are you waiting for?" whispered Nat. "A bird? Where?"

The bird answered Nat's question itself, telling him by its song in what part of the tree it was perching. "Hea-r-me, Hea-r-me," it called; and then followed a short song as if two musical instruments were playing together. The bird seemed well pleased with his performance, and perfectly unconscious of the group of House People who were listening to him; for he repeated the strain over and over again.

"It's almost as big as a Robin," said Dodo.

"But its breast is speckled in big spots," said Nat. "I wish I could see the top of it. There, it has flown to a lower branch, and its back is kind of rusty-brown. What is its name, Uncle Roy?"

"Rap knows, I'm sure," said the Doctor.

"It's a Wood Thrush," said Rap. "People call them Wood Robins, too, sometimes. I think that one, or his brother, has a nest in the spruce back of your house."

"Uoli-uoli, a-e-o-lee-lee!" sang the Thrush; and as the children became accustomed to the song they noticed that six or eight other Silver-tongues were singing the same tune in different parts of the orchard and garden. It sounded as if the evening breeze were stirring Aeolian harps.

"Why is he called the Wood Thrush?" asked Rap. "I've hardly ever seen him in the real woods--he loves to be in gardens and orchards. The trees round the miller's house are full of them."

"It is not easy to say why he was named so," said the Doctor, "unless it is because he builds his nest higher up in trees than most of his Thrush kin. I am very glad you have had a chance to hear and see him at the same time; for he is one of the home birds you must make a place for in your very inside heart, with the Bluebird and Robin, though he does not return from his winter outing until after these two have begun nesting."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wood Thrush.]

"When he comes we are sure not only that it is Spring, but that Spring is in a pleasant, good-natured mood--that she is through with the tempers and crying fits she suffers from in March and April, and is kissing the buds of the early blossoms of May, coaxing them to open their eyes. When you see the first Wood Thrush hopping among last year's leaves, you may look for jack-in-the-pulpit's pointed nose and green and purple hood.

"As soon as this Thrush makes up his mind to settle in a certain place, he calls a mate to him with his thrilling song and begins house-building. From this time until he moults, late in July, every one in his vicinity may enjoy a free concert morning and evening, and at intervals during the day. Sometimes in cloudy weather he even sings at noon--a time when birds are most likely to be silent.

"In grat.i.tude for what we owe him for his music and his work in the guilds, we must be patient with him when he secures the first ripe cherries from the top of the tree, before we House People know that they are even red. For every cherry and strawberry he bites, he pays ten times over by swallowing a hundred wicked hungry worms and bugs that eat everything and do no work in return. But House People are very blind about some things, and often act as if they had only one eye apiece, like the Cyclopes. We see one of these darling birds take a little fruit; we see more fruit with holes in it, and think that birds have done the damage, though a wasp or hornet may be the guilty party; and then we often say, 'What a nuisance those birds are!'

"But all the rest of the growing year, when these same birds toil from sunrise until sunset, to clear away insect pests and give us a better crop of fruit next year, we do not notice it. You children, however, will have no such excuse for keeping one eye shut when you know Citizen Bird as he really is."

"How late at night does the Wood Thrush sing?" asked Nat. "Does he never sleep?"

"Oh, yes, he goes to sleep when it is really dark, but at this nesting season the night in Birdland is very short; some of the feathered people are stirring at three o'clock, and by four all thrifty birds have dressed themselves to go out marketing for breakfast."

"The Veeries are singing down by the river," said Olive to her father; "perhaps we had better go there before it grows dark."

"Veeries? Is that what you call those birds?" asked Rap. "I never knew their name, so I called them 'sunset birds,' to myself."

"Veeries, yes, but called Wilson's Thrush, too," said the Doctor; "because this kind of Thrush was named after Alexander Wilson, who wrote a description of it, and published a colored plate of it, seventy-five years ago. But your name of 'sunset bird' is very good, my lad, for they sing best about twilight. We will go down to the river path and hear them, though you cannot see them very clearly now."

The Wood Thrush

The largest of our Thrushes except the Robin--length about eight inches.

Upper parts warm brown, like ground cinnamon; brightest on the head, but a little greenish on the tail.

Under parts plain white in the middle, but boldly spotted with black all over the breast and along the sides.

Eye-ring whitish.

A Summer Citizen of the eastern United States, and a Ground Gleaner, Tree Trapper, and Seed Sower.

WILSON'S THRUSH

Commonly called VEERY from the sound of one of its notes

"How still it is here!" said Dodo, as they walked along the footpath that wound in and out among the trees toward the edge of the river.

Swallows were skimming close to the water, which sang a little song to itself as it ran along.

"What do you think those birds are doing, Rap," said Nat; "looking at themselves in the water or playing tag?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Veery.]

"They are Barn Swallows, who catch flies and little gnats and things close down over the water. Hear them talking and laughing!" But the Swallows really seemed to be playing some sort of game as they circled about, every now and then turning sharply and giving little rippling cries.

The Doctor halted under a beech tree that spread its branches over a great mossy circle, seating himself on an old log that had been washed down the river and lay on the ground. For a minute the Veeries were silent; then from the tree over his head one sang a short tune--two sentences in a high key, then two a little lower and softer, like an echo.

"It is different from any other bird-song," said Olive, "and every spring when it comes it seems as lovely as the first time I heard it."

"Is that Veery only visiting here, or will he build a nest?" asked Nat.

"He will build; and though he is so shy that we do not see him as often as the Wood Thrush, his song makes him one of the best-known of the family. He makes his home from the Middle States, east and west, all over the country, up to the far North; but as insects are his chief food he does not come as early or stay as late in his summer home as the Hermit Thrush, and always tries to reach the warmer countries before the trees are wholly bare and there is danger of snow."

"Do they live up in the trees where they sing?" asked Dodo, after they had listened to the Veeries, who were then singing on both sides of the river.

"No, on the contrary, he is one of the Ground Thrushes, who builds his nest close to the ground in such places as that bit of brushwood opposite; and as he spends most of his time about home we seldom see him, even in places like this where many pairs live. But we do not need to see a Veery to know of his presence if we once learn his song by heart, because we shall remember it as long as our hearts beat."

The children sat silent for a long time, looking up through the trees at the coming of the night. Then Dodo nestled close to Olive and whispered, "I think that Veery is singing his prayers."

Wilson's Thrush--Veery

Length seven and a half inches.