58 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



but a large majority of the former species are decidedly darker and 

 less brown, appearing on actual comparison almost gray in con- 

 trast. 



There is the usual range of individual variation in this species, 

 affecting not only the color but the proportions also; but I 

 have been unable to discover any variation with locality, although 

 specimens from the far North, being in midsummer dress, are paler 

 and grayer than specimens from the United States obtained in 

 spring or autumn, and therefore in fresher plumage. 



First described in 1858 from specimens obtained at West North- 

 field, Illinois, by Miss Alice Kennicott, and near Cairo by her 

 brother, the lamented Robert Kennicott, this species remained for 

 several years rare in collections and its distribution comparatively 

 unknown ; but at the present time its habits and range are known 

 perhaps as exactly as those of any of its congeners. Everywhere 

 within the United States the typical form is merely a migrant, 

 although a small southern race passes the summer on the higher 

 mountains of the extreme northeastern portions of the country; 

 but of the latter it may be best to treat specially under its appro- 

 priate heading. (See T. alicice bicknelli, page 59). 



The breeeding range of the Gray-cheeked Thrush includes a vast 

 extent of territory, from the bleak regions of Labrador to the shores 

 of the Arctic Ocean and westward to the coasts of Behring's Sea, 

 including those of the Asiatic as well as the American side. 



In its general habits, this species much resembles its congeners, 

 being, perhaps, most like T. ustalatus swainsonii, although its rela- 

 tionship to T. fusccscens are in some respects equally close. The 

 eggs are spotted, like those of the Olive-backed Thrush, however, 

 and not plain colored as are usually, but not invariably, those of the 

 Tawny. The notes are said to be quite distinctive, the song being 

 most like that of the Hermit Thrush, "but differs in being its 

 exact inverse," beginning with its highest and concluding with its 

 lowest notes, instead of the reverse. 



