12 Brewster on BicknelVs Thrash in New Eitgland. [January 



BICKNELL'S THRUSH {TURD US ALICI^^ BICK- 

 NELLI) IN NEW ENGLAND. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



Upon reading Mr. Bicknell's article in the July number of this 

 Bulletin (pp. 153-159) it occurred to me that his new Thrush 

 must breed on our New England mountains as well as among 

 the Catskills. This conviction was strengthened, shortly after- 

 wards, by a letter shown me by Mr. Purdie, in which the writer, 

 Mr. Bradford Torrey of Boston, asked if Turdiis alicice was 

 known to summer among the White Mountains, he having heard 

 a Thrush there which he felt sure was neither the Wilson's, 

 the Olive-backed, nor the Hermit. Acting upon the double hint 

 .1 took an early opportunity to look for the interesting bird, with 

 the following result. 



On the afternoon of July 19, 1883, I started up the Mt. Wash- 

 ington carriage-road from the Glen House, in company with Mr. 

 Walter Deane and Mr. James J. Greenough of Cambridge. At 

 first our choice of a time proved unfortunate, for a succession of 

 heavy showers prevented us from exploring the dripping thickets 

 by the way, and forced us to push on as rapidly as possible, so 

 that we reached the summit, shortly after dark, without having 

 shot a bird of any kind. Thrushes were heard at various points, 

 however, and the peculiar notes of a few^ met with near the Half- 

 way House led us to hope that our quest would not prove in vain. 



The following was one of those rare mornings that moun- 

 tain climbers long for but seldom get. The sky was cloudless, 

 and as the sun rose above the horizon its rays gilded the snowy 

 banks of fog that marked the courses of distant rivers, and, touch- 

 ing the eastern sides of the surrounding mountains, bathed every 

 rugged slope and beetling precipice in a flood of light, the brighter 

 from its contrast with the gloom that still enveloped their western 

 sides and shrouded the mysterious depths of dark ravines far 

 below. The keen, almost frosty morning air rustled among the 

 scant vegetation, and an occasional stronger puft' heralded the 

 coming blasts which, with other retainers of Winter's train, are 



