Evening star., 1946-02-19
This and That
BIZ Charles Z. TrncetDeH.
@ STREET.

Dear Sir:
IT have been in Washington for six
years. We read your column every night,
and I (from the deep Pennsylvania
woods have a bird for you to identify.
"It Is a shy bird, only there to nest
in the heat Of summer from June to
about August /; very shy, and gray in
color, about the size Of a robin, and
fast.
"Field glasses helped me some. This
bird was Of the thrush family, I am
sure, but sang rolling song. frequently.
.roll-a-roll- -a-roll-a- It was flute
like music and sounded like he was down
a barrel, sounded like it was sung from
deep in the birds throat and was very
musical and very lovely.
II know most bird songs. but not this
shy feathered songster. Really beautiful
to hear.
"Inasmuch as we live in an apart
ment, and cannot have livestock, will
you please be so kind as to republish
your famous column on guppies, how
to feed and care for them, 50 all may
enjoy9
ALSO give a column or two on other
hardy fish which We may buy-now
after peace, we hope-which are tough,
easily fed, and do not die If you look
at them.
"Also appreciated would be a column
on snails, their habits. whether they
clean fish bowls or not.
Good luck to you and keep up the
good work. Sincerely F. L. B."
This hird v,yoho y,1v u,ae yoarv
It is also called the tawny thrush, also
Wilson's thrush, after the great orni-
thologist-artist, Alexander Wilson.
The veery is 7A inches long, not as
large as robin, Of course, but might
be thought to be, at a distance.
Birds of America" has the follow
ing to say about the song of this inter-
esting and shy bird:
"The distinctive characteristic of the
veerys tone is peculiar resonant quail
ity, very like that produced by whistling
into a long, metal tube Of, say, a foot
in diameter.
Resonance In some degree is not an
uncommon quality in the tones of sew
eral Of the thrushes, notably the hermit:
but it is the prevailing characteristic of
the veery's song
Nor Is there any common bird whose
vocalization involves such a perfectly ad-
justed tremolo, effect as dainty and in
nocent of apparent effort as the ripples
which greet the lightest zephyr from
the surface OF motionless pool.
X
"The song has been likened," the ac-
count continues, "to a spiral, tremulous
silver thread of music and has been
represented by means of connected
spirals in uniformly descending line.
"The spiral idea is accurate, though
it should be elaborated by the explana-
ton that each curve is in the form of
finely shaded and evenly divided cres-
cendo and diminuendo.
Ernest Thompson Seton has said
that while it seems almost profane to
represent this faint, soft, silvery tinkle
of the veery's song by uncouth syllables,
yet he thought the best idea of the mere
articulation would be suggested by the
syllables 'veery, veery, veery'"
The tawny quality of the veery might,
at q distance, and through glasses, seem
gray.
The gray-cheeked thrush, often called
Alice's thrush, is a half inch longer,
and the upper parts are grayish olive.
The tone quality of the song is some
thing like that Of the veery, but is COM
monty regarded as thinner, and has been
represented as ''te-dee. de-ea, te-dee-ee" !"
John Burroughs said that the wood
thrush, the hermit thrush and the veery
stand at the head of our list of song
sters, "if we take quality Of melody as
. test" This qualification, or course,
was to give an "out" to the mocking-
bird, whose singing Is more on the free
and-easy style. making up Is he goes,
without . set melody.