500 



NESTS AND. EQCfSOF 



758. RusSBT-BACKED Thrush AND Nkst (E. S. Cheney del.) 



the deepest thickets, and when disturbed utters an alarm note like that of the Brown 

 Thrasher, chuck, chuck. It is also a fine songster, and may be heard at dusk and 

 early morning. The nest is built in thickets or bushes, a few feet above the ground. 

 It is composed of twigs, grasses, roots and leaves, and in some cases mosses are used. 

 A set of four eggfe taken near San Jose, California, May 18, 1885, gives the following 

 dimensions: .92x.65, .95x.66, .97x.68. They are greenish-blue spotted with yellowish- 

 brown, chiefly about the larger end. The average size of ten specimens is .94x,65, 



758o. OMVE-BACKED THBTJSH. TurduB u'stulatus swainsonii (Cab.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Eastern North America, West to and including Rocky Mountains, and as far 

 as East Humboldt ranges and the Upper Columbia. Breeds chiefly north of the 

 United States, v/intering from the Gulf States and Mississippi Valley southward to 

 Northern South America. 



The Olive-backed Thrush breeds chiefly north of the United States. It is given 

 as a common breeding bird in the Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Mr. Kennicot found it 

 nesting in the Arctic regions, frequently placing the nest not more than two feet from 

 the ground. In his Catalogue of the Birds of New Brunswick,* Mr. M. Chamberlain 

 gives it as a summer resident, breeding in abundance. Breeds abundantly in Nova 

 Scotia. In some parts of Maine and New Hampshire It is the commonest Thrush, 

 except the Robin, during the breeding season.f Mr. Frank H. Lattin has for two 



• Birds of New Brunswick. Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brus- 

 wlok. No. 1. Published by the Society. St. John, N. B., 1882. Pp. 29-68. 

 t New England Bird Life, Part I, p. 68. 



