180 



THE OOLOGIST. iV OO 



the pallidas is on h'\s way to the laud 

 where winter is unknown. 



P. B. Peabody, 

 Hallock, Minn. 



The Russet-backed Thrush. 



[Turdus uslulatus.) 



Of all the birds which niakft this lo- 

 cality their summer home my favorite 

 is the Russet-back. He is always asso- 

 ciated in my mind with cool woodlands 

 and running streams, where he is much 

 at home in the dense maple and willow 

 thickets and where his short notC'of 

 protest may be heard by anyone who 

 will intrude upon his haunts. 



The Russet-backed Thrushes arrive 

 here from their winter home in the lat- 

 ter part of April. As I reside several 

 miles from their breeding grounds it is 

 impossible for me to give exact dates, 

 but I have noticed them as abundant 

 upon May 1, 1895, May 1, 1897. and Ap- 

 ril 29, 1898, and I suppose that had I 

 visited the locality a few days earlier in 

 the year I would have noticed a few of 

 them. 



In the Nidologist for April, 1894, (Vol. 

 I, No. 8), I have noticed a communica- 

 tion from Mr. L. Belding in which he 

 seems to doubt the fact that the Russet- 

 back arrived before the 1st of May. In 

 the year 1893, shortly after I had begun 

 to prepare eggs scientifically and be- 

 fore 1 began to keep a notebook, I dis- 

 tinctly remember taking two sets of 

 three and one set of four eggs of the 

 Russet-backea Thrush upon the 1st of 

 May. I greatly regret that I have no 

 written account of the occurrence, 

 which is no doubt the earliest "take" of 

 eggs of this species on record. 



Soon after their arrival or between the 

 1st and 10th of May they begin nest build- 

 ing, usually selecting a fork of a small 

 maple or willow tree in a thi'jket, near 

 to or overhanging a running stream; 

 the heighth of the nest ranging from 



two to twelve feet above the ground. 



Sometimes the n?st is placed in a 

 blackberry thicket near ih'^ bo1y of 

 some large maple or will^vv tree or in 

 the fork of a large tree near the ground, 

 but always near running wat»r. 



The earliest record I have for a set of 

 eggs is May 14, 1896, at which date a 

 set of three slightly incubated eggs was 

 collected from a nest saddled to a hori- 

 zontal maple limb, 8 feet up The lat- 

 est date at which I have taken fresh 

 eggs is Juns 17, 1899. 



A typical nest is composed of leaves, 

 straw, small rootlets and grasses ce- 

 mented with mud and lined with fine 

 gra'^s and skeletonized leaves, but 

 sometimes for a foundation very cur- 

 ious articles are used. A friend of 

 mine once found a nest at the bottom 

 of which was a large piece of a news- 

 paper and on the 29th of May, 1896, I 

 took a set of eggs from a nest which 

 had for a foundation a large piece of 

 cotton. 



After the eggs are all laid the bird 

 sets very closely upon the nest, some- 

 times allowing a person to touch the 

 edge of the nest before she will leave 

 it. In fact, I recall one nest where the 

 bird was removed by hand before the 

 contents of the nest could be seen. 



The eggs are three or four in number 

 and are greenish blue in color marked 

 with spots and blotches of lilac and 

 reddish brown. There is a great vari- 

 ation in the size, shape and mark- 

 ings of different specimens. 



As well as I can judge from my ob- 

 servations the period of incubation is 

 about 14 days When hatched the 

 young grow rapidly; the amount of 

 worms, grubs, beetles and other insects 

 which they consume being something 

 enormous. 



In about two weeks they are ready to 

 leave the nest, after which the family 

 party may be seen hopping about 

 through the underbrush until they de- 

 part for a warmer clime. I cannot 



