iSS3-] Brewster on Bickneirs Thrush in Nczv England. I C 



bled that of the Sohtary Vireo's well-known voice. The respec- 

 tive call-notes of the two biixls, however, were radically 

 different. That of 7^. szuainsoni is a musical pip or peettk as 

 liquid in tone as the sound of dropping water. The call of 

 bicknelli^ on the contrary, was harsh and far from pleasing. 

 Usually it was a single loud, penetrating queep^ often abbreviated 

 to quee^ and occasionally varied to quehah with a falling inflec- 

 tion. At a distance this note sounded not unlike the cry of a 

 Nighthawk. Near at hand it had a peculiarly startling effect in 

 the silence of these solitary woods, and I noticed that it left a 

 disagreeable, jarring sensation on the ear. Once or twice it re- 

 i called the pheu of the Tawn}^ Thrush, but ordinarily it was 

 sharper and higher pitched. 



In a general way the habits and actions of these Thrushes mav 

 be said to be identical, but bicknelli is a much shyer^ noisier and 

 more restless bird than its cousin the Olive-back. Indeed I found 

 it next to impossible to creep within shot of one, for long before 

 I was near enough the wary bird would take flight, to resume 

 its singing or calling at some distant and perhaps inaccessible 

 point on the steep mountain side below^. The only successful 

 method of proceeding proved to be that of lying in wait near 

 the spot whence one had been driven, for in a short time it 

 was almost sure to return, prompted, apparently, by curiosity, 

 which I found I could stimulate by making a shrill chirping 

 or squeaking. On such occasions the bird would approach 

 by short, cautious flights, keeping itself so well concealed 

 that it would often come within a few yards and retire again 

 without once exposing itself to view. Indeed the two speci- 

 mens taken were only secured by snap shots directed almost 

 at random towards some opening in the branches where the 

 flash of a wing betrayed its owner's movements. 



Judging from the necessarily imperfect observations made dur- 

 ing my hurried reconnoisance, the Bicknell's Thrushes are most 

 abundant, on Mt. Washington, in the belt of stunted firs and 

 spruces which border the upper edge of the heavy timber, at an 

 elevation of about 3800 feet. From this point their numbers 

 rapidly diminished as we descended, and the last one positively 

 identified was met with at an elevation of (approximately) 3000 

 feet. Their range upwards is probably co-extensive with that 

 of their favorite spruce thickets, for, as already stated, they were 



