216 THE OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. 
During the migrations the bird is seldom heard to utter a sound. Its 
scolding note is described as being midway between the interrogatory whistle 
of the Olive-backed and the ill-mannered snarl of the Wilson. Its song, too, 
requires careful distinction from the former, and hence from both. 
The breeding habits of the Alice Thrush are as yet imperfectly known, 
especially in its British American range. Mr. Bradford Torrey first sus- 
pected its presence in New England during the breeding season, on the strength 
of a song heard in the White Mountains, and shortly afterward Mr. William 
Brewster confirmed the record by securing nests in the same locality. 
No. 96. 
/ OLIV E-BACKED THRUSE. 
bs O. U. No. 758a. Hylocichla ustulata swainsonii (Cab.). 
Description.—Adult: Above, olive, or olive-brown, substantially uniform,— 
a little brighter than in preceding species; below, white; throat (only slightly in 
center), breast, and sides of head strongly suffused with creamy or ochraceous- 
buff, unmistakable on lores and eye-ring; cheeks and throat spotted narrowly 
and breast broadly with dusky olivaceous; sides and flanks lightly washed with 
brownish gray, sometimes appearing in broad, sector-shaped marks on sides and 
across breast below the buffy area. Bill brown, lighter at base of lower man- 
dible; feet light brown. Length 6.50-7.50 (165.1-190.5) ; wing 3.81 (96.8) ; tail 
2°49 (63:2) ibill 250) (1297). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; uniform olive-brown above; heavy 
spotting and buffy wash on breast; sides of head and eye-ring buffy. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, of bark-strips and grasses with a 
heavy inner mat of leaves, sometimes largely composed of, or covered externally 
with, moss, lined with rootlets and fine grasses; placed at moderate heights in 
bushes or saplings of thickets. Eggs, 3-5, pale greenish olive, with not very 
distinct spots and blotches of reddish and yellowish brown. Av. size, .g1 x .65 
(3) e615): 
General Range.—Eastern United States westward to the Upper Columbia 
River, and casually to the north Pacific Coast. Southward in winter to Cuba, 
Central America, and western South America; casual in Bermuda. Breeds in 
the mountainous regions of the Eastern States northerly, and generally north 
of the United States. 
Range in Ohio.—A common but very unobtrusive migrant. 
ALTHO not less habitually a bird of the undergrowth and thickets 
than its congeners, when at home in its northern haunts, the Olive-backed 
Thrush has a curious custom during migrations of remaining aloft in the 
