The wood thrush is distributed over the eastern part of the United States wherever suitable conditions are found. It is a lover of open groves and bushy pastures, and may be found along little-traveled roads and near low bushy swamps. The bird is noted for its sweet song, and many country people who are well acquainted with its notes know little or nothing of the bird itself. Its favorite time for singing is in the early evening at the close of a sultry afternoon when a shower has cooled the air. As a rule, it does not nest in gardens or orchards and is seldom seen about farm buildings. It is strictly migratory, and the greater number pass out of the United States in winter, though a few remain in the Southern States. It usually migrates north in April or early May.
For the investigation of the food habits of the wood thrush 171 stomachs were available. One of these was collected in Florida in January and another in Alabama in February, and these two will be treated separately. The remaining 169 were collected from April to October, and are fairly well distributed over that time. The food consisted of 59.59 per cent of animal matter to 40.41 per cent of vegetable. The greatest quantity of animal food was eaten in April, the month of arrival from the south, and the least in October, the month of the return migration.
_Animal food._--Beetles, collectively (20.40 per cent), constitute the largest item of animal food. Of these, 2.23 per cent are the predacious ground beetles (Carabidæ), generally considered useful. The remainder belong to several more or less harmful families, of which the May-beetle family (Scarabæidæ) amount to 10.17 per cent. Snout beetles, or weevils (Rhynchophora), are eaten to the extent of 2.16 per cent only, and the wood-boring chick-beetles (Elateridæ) to 2.13 per cent.
Among the various species of these insects were noted the remains of the well-known Colorado potato beetle (_Leptinotarsa decemlineata_), in two stomachs, and _Coptocycla signifera_, also injurious to the potato, in one stomach. Remains of _Otiorhynchus ovatus_, a weevil destructive to strawberry plants, were found in two stomachs, and in one other a weevil, _Sphenophorus parvulus_, that injures the roots of grass. The well-known white grubs that attack grass roots and a host of other plants are the immature forms of many species of _Lachnosterna_, of several species of _Euphoria_ and of _Allorhina nitida_. Of these, remains of _Lachnosterna_ were found in 27 stomachs and of _Allorhina_ and _Euphoria_ in one each.