BIRDS OF KANSAS. 647 



search largely for their food (wiiich is similar) upon the ground, 

 the upturned roots and moss-covered bodies of fallen trees. 



They build their nests either on the ground in hillocks of 

 moss, under a clustering growth of plants, or in the forks of 

 shrubs, when well concealed by low, overhanging bushes. They 

 are composed of leaves, intermingled with soft strippiugs from 

 vines and plants, stems of weeds, grasses, etc., and often lined 

 with finev grasses, rootlets or horse hairs. Eggs four or five, 

 .87x. 65; ''greenish blue; they vary in size and somewhat in depth 

 of color; and in rare instances a few faint reddish spots appear 

 upon the larger end; in form, oval. 



Turdus aliciae Baird. 



GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. 



Migratory; not uncommon. Arrive the last of April to first 

 of May; return and leave for the south in September. 



B. 154. R. 3. C. 13. G. 3, 329. U. 757. 



Habitat. Eastern and northern North America; west to the 



Kocky Mountains, Alaska and eastern Siberia; breeding from 



Labrador westward to southern Alaska, and north to the Arctic 



coast; wintering south of the United States to Costa Rica. 



Sp. Chak. Above, uniform greenish olive brown; no trace of light orbital 

 ring. Beneath, white, usually more or less tinged with buff on the jugulum, 

 the sides uniform olive gray. Jugulum with lower parts and sides of throat 

 marlied with rather small triangular spots of dusky. Adult, in spring: Above, 

 uniform greenish olive brown, the tail and outer portion of wings sometimes 

 appreciably browner, or less greenish; sides of head nearly uniform dull grayish, 

 the auriculars faintly streaked with white. Malar region, and lower parts in 

 general, white, the entire sides uniform olive gray, and the jugulum usually 

 (but not always) more or less tinged with light buff; .iugulum, with lower part 

 and sides of throat, marked with rather small but very distinct deltoid spots of 

 dusky, these markings more cuneate anteriorly, and forming a nearly continuous 

 sub-malar stripe along each side of throat, the extreme posterior spots decidedly 

 transverse; breast marked with transverse spots of olive gray, like the color of 

 the sides. Adult, in fall and winter: iSimilar, but usually more greenish olive, 

 and the buff tinge on jugulum more distinct. Turdus alicicB is apparently a 

 very near ally of T. fuscescens, with which it agrees much more closely lu 

 measurements and in pattern of coloration than T. ustulatus swainsonii, with 

 which it has usually been compared, and, by many, confused, though needlessly 

 so. From the latter it may be invariably distinguished by the entire absence of a 

 light orbital ring, the whole side of the iiead being nearly uniform grayish, as- 

 \n fuscescens. The spots on the jugulum average decidedly smaller; the jugu- 



