THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 495 



757a. H. a. bicknelli Ridgw. BICKNELL'S THRUSH. Similar to the 

 preceding, but smaller. L., 6'25-7'25; W., 3'40-3'80; T., 2'60-270; B., 

 50--52 (Ridgw.). 



Range. E. N. Am. Breeds in Hudsonian and upper Canadian zones in 

 N. S., mts. of n. New England, the Catskills and Adirondacks of N. Y., and 

 probably mts. of w. Mass. ; migrates through se. U. S. and the Bahamas; 

 winters in Haiti and probably n. S. A. 



Washington, apparently rare T. V., May 14-23; Oct. 3. Cambridge, 

 rather common T. V., May 2-May 30; Sept. 25-Oct. 5. 



Nest, essentially like that of H. u. swainsoni, both in construction and 

 position. Eggs, greener and more finely spotted than those of swainsoni 

 (Breweter, Minot's Land Birds and Game Birds, 2d ed., appendix, 468). 

 Date, Seal Island, N. S., June 13 (Thayer Coll.). 



"In northern New England BicknelPs Thrush breeds from an alti- 

 tude of about three thousand feet (scattered pairs may be found lower 

 than this) to the extreme upper limits of tree growth, but most abun- 

 dantly among the dwarfed, densely matted spruces and balsams which 

 cover such extensive areas on the upper slopes and ridges of our higher 

 mountains. Here, in an atmosphere always cool and ordinarily satu- 

 rated with moisture from passing clouds, it spends the summer in 

 company with such birds as Swainson's Thrushes, Winter Wrens, 

 Yellow-rumped and Black-poll Warblers, Juncos, White-throated 

 Sparrows, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers. In many places it is quite 

 as numerous as any of these species, and in certain favored localities 

 it probably outnumbers them all put together. Nevertheless one may 

 spend hours in its chosen haunts without getting a fair view of a sin- 

 gle individual, for, despite (or perhaps really because of) the fact that 

 these solitudes are rarely invaded by man, Bicknell's Thrush is, while 

 breeding, one of the very shyest of our smaller birds. . . . 



"The song is exceedingly like that of the Veery, having the same 

 ringing, flutelike quality; but it is more interrupted, and it ends dif- 

 ferently the next to the last note dropping a half tone, and the final 

 one rising abruptly and having a sharp emphasis. The ordinary calls 

 are a whistled pheu practically identical with that of H . fuscescens, a 

 harsh note which recalls the cry of the Night Hawk, a low cluck much 

 like that of the Hermit Thrush, and a pip or peenk similar to that of 

 Swainson's I = Olive-backed] Thrush. The last is rarely heard" (Brews- 

 ter, Minot's Land and Game Birds, p. 467). 



1882. BICKNELL, E. P., Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VII, 152-159. 1883. 

 BREWSTER, W., Ibid, VIII, 12-17 (biographical). 



758a. Hylocichla ustulata swainsoni (Tschudi). OLIVE-BACKED 

 THRUSH. Ad. Upperparts uniform olive; back and tail practically the same 

 color ; eye-ring deep cream-buff, lores the same; whole throat and breast with 

 a strong tinge of deep cream-buff or even ochraceous-buff; the feathers of the 

 sides of the throat with wedge-shaped black spots at their tips, those of the 

 breast with rounded black spots at their tips; middle of the belly white; 

 sides brownish gray or brownish ashy. L., 7*17; W.. 3'93; T., 2'76; B., '50. 



Remarks. This bird will be confused only with the Gray-cheeked and 

 Bicknell's Thrushes, from which it differs in the much stronger suffusion of 

 buff on the throat and breast, its buff eye-ring and lores. 



Range. N. A. Breeds in lower Hudsonian and Canadian zones from 



