Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 441 



lined with pine needles and very fine black rootlets and grass tops. 

 The eggs are pale greenish blue. It sings and gleans its food well 

 within the shaded cover, but so near the open that the bird occasion- 

 ally can be seen before it darts swiftly from view. 



The singing of the Hermit Thrush is quite distinctive and char- 

 acteristic and its tones are often compared to those of a flute. Many 

 persons confuse the Hermit's songs with those of the Wood Thrush, 

 but there is such uniformity in the singing of the latter and so much 

 more variety in the Hermit's, that the identity of the songster should 

 not be long in doubt to discriminating listeners. When the Hermit 

 Thrush is heard at a distance its notes have a mellow, flute-like qual- 

 ity, but when the songster is near by one hears high-pitched, falsetto 

 tones, somewhat squeaky and faltering, as if the performer were 

 attempting to repeat some of his phrases an octave higher, and found 

 them quite beyond his compass. A harsh alarm call is uttered when 

 the bird is lurking in a thicket and is disturbed by an intruder. I 

 have heard this call only in the virgin woods, and to my ear it sounds 

 something like the scolding note of the Red-eyed Vireo or the Canada 

 Jay. This Thrush's song period is prolonged until the middle of 

 August, somewhat later than that of either the Olive-back or the 

 Veery. 



Olive-backed Thrush. Hylocichla ustulata swainsoni (Tschudi) 

 Length 7. Back and flanks olive-brown ; tail without rust-red tint; 

 sides of head and breast buffy; breast crossed by a band of wedge- 

 shaped spots ; throat and belly white. 



Abandoned lumber clearings with clumps of mixed saplings includ- 

 ing balsam firs, are frequented by the Olive-backed Thrushes, as 

 they prefer to nest in young evergreens. The singing of this Thrush 

 is one of the early morning and evening pleasures offered the visitor 

 at Cranberry Lake in midsummer, and it is distinctly different from 

 that of either the Hermit or the Veery. The notes have a bell-like 

 quality easily distinguishable. The song period is shorter than that 

 of either of the others, as the young are usually out of the nest by the 

 middle of July, and the males cease to sing soon after the juveniles 

 are on the wing. Both adults and juveniles then frequent the burns 

 and clearings where fruit and berries are plentiful. 



The nesting of the Olive-back begins in June and its habits then 

 are remarkably uniform throughout its entire range. The favorite 

 situation for the nest is a crotch in a fir or maple sapling less than 

 ten feet from the ground. The nest rests on a foundation of loose 

 grasses, and its walls are made of dried grasses, green lichens, and 

 fine weed stems. The lining is generally of fine grass, horsehair, 

 and a little moss. The eggs are light greenish blue. The open nidi- 

 fication of the Olive-backed Thrush is seemingly at variance with 

 its shy, secretive disposition, and the sitting bird generally lingers 

 with her charge until she is certain that the observer means to dis- 

 turb her ; then she flits from the nest and disappears in the shrub- 

 bery, where she lurks in silence or occasionally manifests her anxiety 

 by the characteristic whit from a hidden covert, while the male goes 



