SONG-BIRDS. Thrushes 



Range : Eastern North America, west to the Plains, Alaska, and east- 

 ern Siberia, north to the Arctic coast, south in winter to Costa 

 Rica. 



This Thrush is one of the rarest in southern New Eng- 

 land, and for many years it was considered a variety of the 

 Olive-backed Thrush, from which it differs in having gray 

 sides to the head and in being somewhat larger. A few of 

 the Gray-cheeked Thrushes come to the garden and lane 

 every spring and fall ; but even these migratory visits are 

 very irregular. Bradford Torrey, whose White Mountain 

 experience has brought him into intimate contact with this 

 Thrush during its season of song, says that "... while 

 the Gray-cheek's song bears an evident resemblance to the 

 Veery's, . . . the two are so unlike in pitch and rhythm that 

 no reasonably nice ear ought ever to confound them." 



The song is one of the most infrequent sounds in this 

 locality ; but I have heard it three times in the lane, and 

 have come within identifying range of the singer, attracted 

 and aided by Mr. Torrey's description and syllabication. 1 



Olive-backed Thrush : Turdus ustulatus swainsonii. 



Length: 7-7.50 inches. 



Male and Female : Yellowish eye ring. Head and back olive-brown, 

 deepest on wings and tail. Buff breast and throat, deepening 

 in colour on the sides and speckled everywhere but on the 

 throat with arrow-shaped blackish spots. Dark bill ; feet pale 

 brown. 



Song : Of the same quality as the Wood Thrush's, but less inspiring, 

 and tinged with melancholy. 



Season : Arrives in April, often in company with White-throated Spar- 

 rows, passes on in early May, and returns in October. 



Breeds : From northern New England northward. 



Nest : In low trees and bushes, like that of Wood Thrush minus the 

 mud. 



Eggs : 4-5, greenish blue, freely spotted with brown. 



Range : Eastern North America and westward to the upper Columbia 

 River and East Humboldt Mountains, straggling to the Pacific 

 coast. 



i " The Foot-Path Way," Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

 61 



