136 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 84. 



roam the world with thee; I'll roam the world with thee, 

 with thee !" 



The Olive-backed Thrush has many call-notes. One. sug- 

 g-estive of a profound sigh is identical with a call of the Her- 

 mit. It denotes the deepest solicitude. The note IVhoit! is 

 common to both birds. It is difficult to distinguish the Chu! 

 of the former from the Chuck! of the latter. The Whit! of 

 the Olive-backed Thrush is distinctive and corresponds to 

 the Peep! of the Hermit Thrush. He utters Schree! very 

 gently to the young in the nest. On similar occasions the 

 Hermit says Phee! Besides these call-notes he has a delight- 

 ful crooning twitter, a whistle that he gives when feeding the 

 young, and the notes Whit-yer! and Phieu! The latter he 

 uses when summoning his mate from the nest ; they are lit- 

 tle more than nasal snarls. 



In the evening, when the Thrushes come to the swale 

 around the boiling spring to drink and bathe, the Hermits 

 exchange the calls Peep! and Chuck! The Veeries salute 

 each other with the notes Phieu! and Eurcke! while the 

 Olive-backed Thrushes interchange the calls Whit! Whit- 

 yer or Whit-yer-er. After once having traced these calls to 

 their source, there is not the slightest danger of confusing 

 the birds that make them. 



During the nest life of the Olive-backed Thrushes in the 

 first nest the male sang nearly all the time (June 23, 1913), 

 but it was not until the young were nearly ready to leave the 

 second nest (July 15, 1913) that the Olive-backed began to 

 preface each measure with one or two call notes, until he 

 had exhausted his vocabulary. The song ran something 

 like this: Whit! Wher-a-whee-oo ! Whoit! Wher-a-Zi'hee-oo- 

 zvhee-chee! Whit! Whit-yer! Wher-a-whee-do-whee-chee-tee! 

 Schree! Wher-a-whee-oo ! Chu! Wher-a-whee-oo-whee-chee! 

 I have heard the bird sing through his entire repertoire of 

 call notes several times without stopping. This year he kept 

 up this frenzy of song until the end of the song period (July 

 31, 1913). 



The Veery is the first of the Thrushes to leave. Each year 



