GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH 195 



song of the Gray-cheeked Thrush commences low and reaches its loudest, and 

 I think its highest, part a little beyond half its continuance. It is throughout 

 much fainter and of less forcible delivery than the song of the Olive-backed 

 species. 



John A. Gillespie (1927) gives a very good description of the song: 

 "Briefly described, the song in question commenced with a slurring 

 'wee-oh,' strongly suggesting the beginning of a common variation 

 of the White-eyed Vireo's song. This was followed by two, and some- 

 times three, high pitched, staccato notes resembling 'chee-chee,' 

 intermingled with almost inaudible cymbal-like tones. From notes 

 taken at the time, the whole song might be represented as 'Wee-oh, 

 chee-chee-wee-oh, wee-oh/ the latter half suggesting the Goldfinch 

 in tone and execution." 



To A. Dawes DuBois (MS.), the song of a bird that he heard in 

 Illinois sounded like "We-tichi-wheee, whitchee-u. The we, the first 

 syllable of the tichi and roost of the wheee are of approximately the 

 same pitch, but the second syllable of the tichi is lower. The last 

 portion of the wheee is tremulous and slurs downward, after which 

 the whitchee-u begins on the lower note, but is slurred quickly upward, 

 and then gradually downward on the tremulous chee-u ending." 



The gray-cheeked thrush has a harsh scolding note and some short 

 call notes like what, chuck, pheu, or fee-a, which probably express 

 different emotions. 



Lucien M. Turner (MS.) has this to say about the midnight song 

 of the gray-cheeked thrush on its breeding grounds: "At the mouth 

 of Whale River, Ungava, I was lying in my sleeping bag, preparing 

 for a few hours' rest on the open ground, with naught but sky above 

 me. The time was but a few minutes after midnight, and it was so 

 still that the only sounds to be heard were the contending currents 

 of the river, but a few feet distant, and the distress cries of a pair of 

 semipalmated plovers whose nest was nearby. A drowsiness soon 

 possessed me, but hearing a strange, clear song of a bird, which made 

 the stillness tinkle with its music, I could not sleep so long as it con- 

 tinued. The next morning, I saw a pair of Alice's thrushes and knew 

 they had sung their midnight song to the rising sun, for at this date, 

 June 27, there is no darkness; the sun passes below the horizon, but 

 leaves the daylight behind." 



Field marks. — As its name implies, the best field mark is the gray 

 cheeks. At short range and in good light, this character will dis- 

 tinguish this thrush from the oliveback, whose cheeks and eye ring 

 are conspicuously buffy, though this character is not so well marked 

 in the young bird in the fall. The plain, olive-brown back will dis- 

 tinguish this species from the wood thrush, veery, or hermit, all of 

 which show some rufous on part or all of the upperparts. From 



