OLIVE-BACKED ‘I HRUSH. 
Turdus ustulatus swainsoni Ripcw. 
PLATE I. Fic. 6. 
LL our small Thrushes are true woodland birds and are often especially abundant 
(OS. where there are many conifers intermingled with deciduous trees. They also 
show a particular preference for coniferous trees during migration. Regularly they 
may be found where pines and spruces have been planted for ornament. In these trees 
they can find the best protection against the inclemencies of the weather and can most 
easily seek refuge from their many enemies. It was in the belts of evergreens in the 
midst of the otherwise monotonous prairies of northern Illinois that I first observed 
this little Thrush in great numbers. 
In the greater portion of our country the Olive-backed, or Swainson’s Thrush is 
only a transient visitor. Its real home, its breeding range, extends from 44° North 
latitude to the Arctic regions. Hence it must be looked for where the Hermit breeds, 
a bird which it surpasses in northern extent. I have observed this active little Thrush 
almost every year in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and, during migration, though rarely, 
in Texas. In the last named State the bird appears about the middle of April, in Wis- 
consin it rarely arrives before the first week of May. It migrates in pairs or in small 
flocks, tarries only a short time on the route, and then hastens to its northern home. 
About the middle of September the first Olive-backed Thrushes appear again in northern 
Illinois, by the end of the same month they are still abundant in Missouri and by the 
beginning of October, with the exception of a few stragglers, they have all departed for 
more southern regions. 
This Thrush fearlessly visits the gardens and orchards even in cities and thus 
comes within the immediate neighborhood of human dwellings. In Oak Park, a suburb 
of Chicago, it came daily in company with White-crowned Sparrows, White-throated 
Sparrows, and Snowbirds under the kitchen window of my house to look for food. If 
frightened by any strange noise it would fly quickly to the next group of spruces, only 
to descend to the ground the very next moment. During fall migration they prefer to 
keep to thé bushy edges of woods, in the neighborhood of water, though they also 
occur in the interior of woods, even where there is little undergrowth. Like many 
other birds they are often found in great numbers along rivers and creeks flowing in a 
southerly direction. It is usually seen rapidly and restlessly hopping about after the 
manner of all the true Thrushes in search of inse¢ts, its principal food. The dead leaves 
beneath trees and shrubs are searched with particular care. In autumn all kinds of 
berries constitute no small part of its food. It will even search freshly-dug garden soil 
