Birds of Allegany Park 293 



and eyes. The outer tail feathers are marked with white. The 

 female is plain olive and yellow with slight traces of the black hood 

 across her breast and on the top of the head. The young are plain 

 olive and yellow with no distinguishing marks in first plumage, and 

 unless the parents are near, they are difficult to distinguish from 

 other olive and yellow warblers. 



The Hooded Warbler is distributed in small numbers in many 

 places in the Park, living in the undergrowth and dense bushes in 

 the maple and beech forest. Although it may occur in oak and 

 chestnut woods in the Park I have not found it there. It is not 

 very common anywhere, but where observed at all several males are 

 likely to be in song in that general locality. 



The song of the Hooded Warbler is loud and emphatic. Like 

 that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler, the next to the last note is 

 higher in pitch and accented, but the quality and the time are differ- 

 ent. The song may be written " Terwee terwee terwee tee too." 

 In the Chestnut-side's song the accented note is longer in time than 

 the last, but in the Hooded Warbler's the durations of the two 

 notes are equal, the accent being due to greater intensity. There 

 is some variation among individuals, but the accent of the next to 

 the last note is a general mark of identification for all songs of this 

 species. 



The nest of the Hooded Warbler is placed in a bush a few feet 

 from the ground. In regions where laurel grows it is practically 

 always in such a shrub. No nests have been found in the Park, 

 but as the laurel is rare, some other nesting site must be used. 



Olive-backed Thrush. Hylocichla ustnlata swainsoni (Tscbudi) 

 The Olive-backed Thrush is between Sparrow and Robin in size 

 and may be distinguished from the other Thrushes of the Park 

 by the uniform olive-brown coloring of the upper parts without 

 reddish or tawny-brown anywhere. The cheeks of the bird are dis- 

 tinctly buffy, and the under parts white, with the usual Thrush 

 spotting on the breast, heavier than the Veery's spots, lighter and 

 smaller than those of the Wood Thrush, and almost the same as 

 those of the Hermit. 



The Oliver -back is the rarest of the four Park thrushes. I met 

 with but three birds, one in the English Run valley, and the other 

 two in the Big Basin. Like the other thrushes it lives in the lower 

 trees and undergrowth of the forest. 



The song of the Olive-back is sweet and pleasing, with something 

 of the same beautiful qualities that make the thrushes as a group 

 our very best singers : but hardly any observer will consider it 

 equal to an}- one of the other three thrushes, Its song is less 

 variable than that of the others. It consists of seven to nine notes, 

 the first low in pitch, the remaining notes in pairs, each pair higher 

 than the last one, but the second note of each pair lower than the 

 first. The pairs of notes descend in pitch, but the whole song is 

 ascending. Those who think this song confusingly like the Veery's 

 should note this point, for the Veery's song invariably descends in 

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