OF NEW ENGLAND. 39 
more resemblance to the notes of that bird than to those of 
any other. ‘Though, as I have said, less varied than those of 
_the other “wood thrushes,” they are sweet, clear, and liquid, 
and possess great charm. 
The other notes of the Olive-backed Thrushes, are a chuck 
of alarm, a feeble tstp quite uncharacteristic, and a cry of 
chick, chick-a-sit,,etc., like that of the Snow-bird, to which I 
have heard them give utterance in spring, when chasing one 
another through the branches, or when slightly alarmed. They 
have also a feebly whistled peep, heard chiefly in autumn. 
The ‘‘ New Hampshire Thrushes,” though they correspond to 
the Wood Thrush of Massachusetts, are yet inferior to that 
bird. How then would they be ranked by Buffon, who wrote 
of the latter, says Wilson, ‘that the Song Thrush of Europe 
had, at some time after the creation, rambled round by the 
Northern ocean, and made its way to America; that advancing 
to the south it had there (of consequence) become degenerated 
by change of food and climate, so that its cry is now harsh and 
unpleasant, ‘as are the cries of all birds that live in wild coun- 
tries inhabited by savages.’”’? 
(E) auicim. Gray-cheeked Thrush. Alice’s Thrush. Arctic 
Thrush. 
(In New England a rare migrant.) 
(a). 74-8 inches long. Above soft, subdued olive-green. 
Sides of the head gray. Beneath white, with little or no buff; 
breast and sides of the throat spotted with dark brown. It is 
said that specimens of this species grade inseparably into 
others of Swainsoni (D). But distinctions are not to be based 
wholly on coloration. 
(b). The Gray-cheeked Thrushes build their nests in Arctic 
countries, most often on the ground. The only egg of this 
species in my collection is like that of the Swainson’s Thrush, 
but more thickly and minutely marked. (See D, b.) 
(c). The Gray-cheeked Thrush is thought by some ornithol- 
ogists not to be a valid species, but, if not a species distinct 
from the Swainson’s Thrush, it is a very distinct variety or 
