A Sketch of the Thrushes of North America 109 



mean that all winter specimens will be named by guesswork. Light ones 

 and dark ones, large ones and small ones, may be sorted out into series to 

 which names may be applied, but no one can feel sure by this process of 

 matching that some of the birds in different rows did not come originally 

 from the same nest ! 



The Gray-cheeked Thrush {Hyloctchla a/icia) is a species that boldly 

 seeks the most inhospitable northern confines of the continent, building its 

 nest beyond the tree limit, in the stunted birches, willows and alders that 

 fringe the Arctic Ocean. It ranges from Labrador to Alaska, extending 

 over Bering Strait to the bleak shores of northeastern Siberia, — truly a 

 dreary summer home, but in winter it retires to Costa Rica and Panama. 

 It closely resembles the Olive-back in plumage and, although larger and 

 greener, may easily be mistaken for the latter species. Its habits are similar, 

 and it, too, lays blue eggs spotted with brown, the eggs of the other three 

 species being plain blue. Its song is said to resemble that of the Hermit, 

 but, as it hastens quietly northward in the spring, few of us are destined to 

 enjoy its full melody. 



A small dark race, bicknelU, Bicknell's Gray-cheeked Thrush, has been 

 described from the Catskill Mountains of New York, and similar birds have 

 been found on the Adirondacks and higher points of New England, as well 

 as on the cold islands off the Nova Scotia coast. The race is but slightly 

 differentiated and may perhaps be considered as a survival, dating from times 

 when glaciation was nearer home. 



In conclusion, I would say that many definite records of capture of 

 specimens of the different races are open to doubt, and, while I have not 

 been able to investigate all of them, I have endeavored to weigh them 

 properly and the results are roughly indicated on the accompanying maps, 

 which show approximately the breeding ranges of the different species and 

 races. 



