SONG-BIRDS. Thrushes 



Range : Eastern North America, west to the Plains, Alaska, and east- 

 ern Siberia, north to the Arctic coast, south in winter to Costa 

 Rica. 



This Thrush is one of the rarest in southern New Eng- 

 land. It is a near relative of the Olive-backed Thrush, 

 from which it differs in having gray sides to the head and 

 in being somewhat larger. A few of the Gray-cheeked 

 Thrushes come to the garden and lane every spring and fall ; 

 but even these migratory visits are very irregular. Brad- 

 ford Torrey, whose White Mountain experience has brought 

 him into intimate contact with BicknelPs Thrush (as those 

 individuals which breed in the mountains of New York and 

 New England are called) during its season of song, says 

 that "... while the Gray-cheek's song bears an evident 

 resemblance to the Veery's, . . . the two are so unlike in 

 pitch and rhythm that no reasonably nice ear ought ever 

 to confound them." 



The song is one of the most infrequent sounds in this 

 locality ; but I have heard it three times in the lane, and 

 have come within identifying range of the singer, attracted 

 and aided by Mr. Torrey's description and syllabication. 1 



Olive-backed Thrush: Turdus ustulatus swainsoni. 



Plate 7. 



Length: 7-7.60 inches. 



Male and Female : Yellowish eye ring. Head and back olive-brown, 

 deepest on wings and tail. Buff breast and throat, deepening in 

 colour on the sides and speckled everywhere but on the throat 

 with arrow-shaped blackish spots. Dark bill ; feet pale brown. 



Song : Of the same quality as the Wood Thrush's, but less inspiring, 

 and tinged with melancholy. 



Season : Arrives in May, often in company with White-throated Spar- 

 rows, passes on in early May, and returns in October. 



Breeds : In mountainous parts of southern New England and north- 

 ward.. 



Nest : In low trees and bushes, like that of Wood Thrush minus the mud. 



Eggs : 4-5, greenish blue, freely spotted with brown. 



Range : Eastern North America and westward to the upper Columbia 

 River and East Humboldt Mountains, straggling to the Pacific 

 coast. 



i " The Foot-Path Way," Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

 61 



