Identifier: birdlifeguidetos00chapman (find matches)
Title: Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Chapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler), 1864-1945 Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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an organ in some vast cathedral. But it is impossil))e to so describe these songs thattheir charm will be understood. Fortunately, all threebirds are abundant, and a brief account of their hauntsand habits will enable any one to lind them. The Veery, or Wilsons Thrush, winters in CentralAmerica, and nests from northern Illinois and northernYgg New Jersey northward to Manitoba and Turdas/uscescens. Newfoundland and southward along thePlate LXXiii. Alleffhanies to North Carolina. It comesto us in the spring, about May 1, and remains until Sep-tember 15. Near the middle of May it begins to build itsnest, placing it on or near the ground. Its eggs aregreenish blue, and resemble in color those of the WoodThrush, but are slightly smaller. The Veerys favorite haunts are low, damp woodswith an abundant undergrowth. It is a more retiringbird than the Wood Thrush, and is rarely seen far fromtracts of woodland. It is to be distinguished from ourother Thrushes by the uniform cinnamon color of its
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Plate LXXIH. VEERY. Length, SO inches. Upper parts, wings, and tail uniform hght cinnamon ;breast huffy, hght marked \yith cinnamon ; helly white ; sides grayish. 255 256 WOOD THRUSH. upper parts, faintly spotted breast, and particularly byits notes. The Veerys characteristic calls are a clearly wliistledivhee-o or ^vhee-you, the first note the higher, and a some-what softer tdo-whee or teweu^ in which the first note isthe lower. Its song is one of the most mysterious andthrilling sounds to l)e heard in the woods. Elsewhere Ihave descril)ed it as a weird, rino-ino- monotone ofblended alto and soprano tones. ... It has neitherbreak nor pause, and seems to emanate from no oneplace. If you can imagine the syllables vee-r-r-hu (or^ee-ry) rejieated eight or nine times around a series ofintertwining circles, the description may enable you torecognize the Veerys song. The AYood Thrush is a more southern bird than theVeery, breeding from as far south as Florida, north-Wood Thrush ward to sout

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