LAND BIRDS. 717 
her scattering brood” (Auk, XXI, 1904, 63). According to Bicknell, 
the song of the Olive-back as compared with that of the Gray-cheeked 
Thrush is “louder, more spontaneous and lyrical. Almost the first note 
is the loudest and most liquid, after which the melody becomes rapidly 
finer, seeming to dissolve upon the air like the spent vibration of a stringed 
instrument.” 
Mr. Stewart Edward White gives a minute description of the singing 
of this bird as observed on Mackinac Island, Lake Huron, in the summers 
of 1889, 1890 and 1891. He says “The song begins low and ascends 
by two regular steps of two notes each and ends with several sharp notes. 
The first note of each step is higher than the second and the second of the 
next is about the same as the first note of the first step. Occasionally 
the whole is preceded by a sharp chuck. The notes have the swelling 
beauty of all thrush songs, while the metallic ending rings like a little bell. 
The song always says to me, gurgle gurgle ting, che che che. As far as 
my experience goes this thrush never sings steadily except in his chosen 
tree. * * * He sings on an average nine and a half times a minute 
with extreme regularity.” From observations during the summer of 
1891 Mr. White found that one Olive-back began on an average at 3:15 
a. m. and sang steadily about ten times a minute until about 9 a. m.; 
then he was nearly silent until noon, after which he sang occasionally for 
a minute or so. About 4:30 he began again and only ceased, to retire 
for the night, about 7:30 p.m. ‘Allowing but eight times a minute for 
his songs, we have for one day, the time consumed in song periods, about 
eight hours and forty-five minutes, and in occasional song, at least twenty 
minutes, according to which there would be a total of 4,360 songs per day. 
His song ceased entirely about July 25, although for five days before that 
but half the time was employed. Certainly it would not be unfair to 
allow him at the very least six weeks of song, 42 days at 4,000 per day, 
in all 168,000 songs in a season. The above facts have been many times 
verified” (Auk, X, 1893, 230). 
The nest is said to vary much in character according to location, 
but is placed at a height of six to twenty feet from the ground, and in 
Michigan is usually in an evergreen tree and not infrequently on a horizontal 
branch. It is built largely of twigs, moss, and strips of bark, but leaves 
sometimes enter into the construction and fine rootlets are used almost 
invariably for the lining. Mud has never been reported and probably 
is not used. The eggs are commonly three or four and are light greenish- 
blue, spotted with rusty brown, and average .90 by .65 inches. They are 
of a lighter blue than those of the Gray-cheeked Thrush and the spots 
are usually rather numerous and perfectly distinct. But one brood appears 
to be reared in the season. 
The food is similar to that of the other small thrushes and the larger 
part of the animal food at least, comes from the ground, where the birds 
search busily for it, turning over fallen leaves, probing the moss and de- 
cayed vegetation and picking up worms, snails and insects of various kinds, 
particularly beetles and ants. Six specimens, taken in Ilnois in April 
and May, were examined by Prof. 8. A. Forbes, who found 22 percent of 
crane-flies, 28 percent of ants, 5 percent of predaceous beetles, several 
curculios, and in one stomach a mass of short-horned borers, Scolytus 
muticus, (Trans. Ill. State Hort. Soc. Vol. 13, 1879, p. 138). The Olive- 
back is fond of wild fruits of all kinds and eats large quantities of berries 
in their season. Being an inhabitant of woodlands rather than orchards 
