THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 175 



gray below; above, brown, tinged with olive; tail, bright 

 rufous or chestnut; below, as in the preceding species. 



The nest is built on the ground, of moss, leaves and 

 grass and lined with tendrils and pine needles. The eggs 

 are either three or four in number, of a greenish blue, 

 with brown spots, more numerous near the large end, 

 and six-sevenths by one-third of an inch in size. 



It breeds in the northern United states northward and 

 southward along the Alleghany mountains and spends 

 the winter in the lower Middle and Gulf States. In the 

 southern part of New Jersey it is a regular though not 

 numerous winter resident. 



Its song is flute-like, very sweet and melodious, but 

 not very loud. Burroughs compares it to O spheral, 

 spheral, O holy, holy, O clear away, clear up, clear up, 

 and the same author says: "If we take the quality of 

 melody as a test, the Wood Thrush, the Hermit Thrush 

 and the Veery Thrush stand at the head of our list of 

 songsters." 



The food of the bird consists of wild berries. 



Thrush, Olive-backed, or Swainson's Thrush. 



Exactly like the Gray -cheeked Thrush in its markings, 

 but distinguished by the brighter buff of the breast, and 

 by a bright buff suffusion on the sides of the head, cover- 

 ing all the marks which are whitish in the Gray- cheeked; 

 feet, pale brown. It nests in bushes and small trees, the 

 nest being built of grasses, moss and bark, lined with 

 finer grasses and tendrils. The eggs are three or four in 

 number, of a greenish blue with brown spots, and nine- 

 tenths by two-thirds of an inch in size. It breeds north 

 of the United States, excepting along the higher moun- 

 tains and spends the winter in the Gulf States and south- 

 ward. In New Jersey it is fairly abundant during mi- 

 grations, from May 5 to May 25 and again from Septem- 

 ber 15 to October 15. Its song is like that of the Wood 



