A Tame Olive-Backed Thrush • 451 



the underparts are buffy on the throat and breast, and silvery- 

 white on the belly. The breast and belly are spotted with 

 black. The feet and legs are a mixture of flesh-color and 

 brown-gray. Speaking colloquially, the legs of the Olive- 

 backed Thrush are very long in proportion to the body. The 

 beak is brown-gray, and the throat is lined with a rare golden- 

 yellow. The bird is light and graceful in all his motions. 



On the third day of his sojourn in a strange land, the 

 Thrush perched on my hand and snuggled against my throat. 

 When I wrote in my notebook, he insisted on standing in the 

 book. I caressed him ; he then perched on my arm. 



It took me four days to teach the young bird to bathe in 

 the basin of water in the house. Although I put pebbles in 

 the bottom for him to stand on, he always looked askance at 

 that basin. At last, however, he consented to take a thorough 

 bath and flapped his wings vigorously. (I have since found 

 that young Thrushes will go to a brook and bathe on sight 

 of the water after they have been out of the nest a few days.) 



The fifth day was, perhaps, the most memorable of all these 

 days with the wonderful little Olive-backed Thrush. On this 

 day he sang a baby Thrush song several times. It was not 

 complete and very husky, but it was most fascinating. I could 

 barely catch the strains in the adjoining room. A person 

 would "never notice it in the woods. 



Again, while I was writing in my notebook the interesting 

 facts of the day, the Thrush flew from the window, alighted 

 in my book, and began to peck at my pen. I suppose that 

 he mistook it for the scissors with which I fed him, but it 

 looked as if he wished to keep me from writing. His next 

 move was to back across the page until his tail feathers touched 

 my hand. I smoothed his feathers with one finger — his fa- 

 vorite caress. Then he turned and presented his breast. I 

 thought that the whole pretty scene might have been an acci- 

 dent. Twice I returned the Thrush to the window sill and 

 the second and the third time he came in like manner. At 

 last he perched on my shoulder, but continued to chirp for 

 attention. After this, whenever opportunity offered, he came 

 to be petted. 



