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Wood Thrush
Adult--Upper parts reddish brown or cinnamon, rump and tail less brilliant; under parts white tinged slightly with buff on the breast, and heavily marked with round black spots. Length--8.30.
Breeding Range--Throughout the Eastern States, northward from Virginia and Kentucky, rare north of Massachusetts.
The nest is bulky, somewhat deeper than the robin's, which it otherwise resembles. It is made of dead leaves (usually beech leaves), used chiefly as the foundation, weed stems, roots, mud, paper, rags, and sometimes snake-skin. It is placed either in a crotch or on a horizontal branch, usually within ten feet of the ground. 3 to 4, rarely 5, eggs are laid; they are greenish blue, lighter and less green than those of the catbird. Size--1.05 x .70.
Either in the woods, or in the shrubbery near the house, the Wood Thrush builds his nest, damp or dry places being indiscriminately chosen. During the period of incubation, which occupies twelve days, the parent bird sits closely and will allow the onlooker to approach within a few feet of the nest. The accompanying illustration was taken in the dark woods and an exposure of four seconds was made. So closely did the bird sit that I was able to secure three photographs, changing the plates and setting the shutter each time without disturbing the confiding mother, though the lens was not more than four feet from her nest. The young, which leave the nest when ten days old, are intensely nervous little fellows, and are difficult to photograph.
In the neighbourhood of New York the breeding season begins rather before the middle of May. Occasionally two broods are reared.