but not far from that place, in New Brunswick, where I collected, I never obtained this Thrush, 

 but only Turclus pallasi during the nesting-season. 



This species is said to be much more arboreal in its habits than the Hermit Thrusb, 

 frequenting dense woods, and obtaining its food more among the branches of the trees than on 

 the ground. According to Dr. Brewer, " the song of this species has a certain resemblance to 

 that of T. pallasi, being yet quite distinct, and the differences easily recognized by a familiar ear. 

 It is more prolonged ; the notes are more equal, and rise with more regularity and more gradually, 

 are richer, and each note is more complete in itself. Its song of lamentation when robbed of its 

 young is full of indescribable pathos and beauty, haunting one, who has once heard it, long after." 



Dr. Elliott Coues remarks that " as to its general habits as compared with its congeners 

 there is little to be said, since they are scarcely distinctive. It is perhaps less decidedly 

 terrestrial and less solicitous of concealment than the Hermit, being often observed in open 

 woodland, and gleaning much of its food among the branches of the trees. I do not think that I 

 have ever recognized its voice, except the short single note, which is much the same as that of 

 its allies." 



Unlike the Hermit Thrush, which places its nest on the ground in swampy places, Swainson's 

 Thrush builds its nest in a tree, in the dense woods, and usually from four to six feet from 

 the ground, though amongst the low vegetation of the Arctic Regions its nest was found by 

 Mr. Kennicott within about two feet from the ground. According to Dr. Coues (B. of Colorado 

 Valley, p. 38), " the nest is more compact and more elaborately finished than those of the ground 

 builders the Veery and Hermit, the outer portions of which are coarser and less consistent. 

 The material is very miscellaneous, and varies, moreover, with the locality, but mosses, lichens, 

 leaves, bark strips, and fibrous weedy substances are usually found, while in some the Hypnum 

 mosses are said to be most conspicuous, and give a distinctive character. In size the nests are 

 4 inches in diameter by half as much in depth, the walls being half an inch thick. 



" The eggs, numbering four or five, measure about seven-eighths inch in length by five-eighths 

 in breadth, but much variation both in length and breadth has been observed. They are light 

 greenish-blue in colour, fully speckled with reddish-brown and other shades. Any Thrushes' 

 eggs like this found in a nest above the ground described by early authors were almost certainly 

 those of the Olive-backed Thrush, to whatever species they may have been accredited." 



Dr. Brewer states that " the nests average about four inches in diameter and two in height, 

 the cavity being three inches wide by about one and a half deep. They are more elaborately and 

 neatly constructed than those of any other of our Thrushes, except perhaps of T. ustulatus. 

 Conspicuous among the materials are the Hypnum mosses, which by their dark fibrous masses 

 give a very distinctive character to these nests, and distinguish them from all except those of 

 the T. ustulatus, which they resemble. Besides these materials are found fine sedges, leaves, 

 stems of equisetaceous plants, red glossy fibres, the flowering stems of the Cladonia mosses, 

 lichens, fine strips of bark, &c." The eggs, four or five in number, Dr. Brewer describes as 

 having the ground-colour usually bluish green, sometimes light blue with hardly a tinge of 

 green, and the spots yellowish brown or russet-brown, or a mixture of both colours, more or less 

 confluent, with marked variations in this respect. In size, he remarks, they range in length from 

 •83 to '84, with a mean of "88, their mean breadth being - 66, the maximum - 69, the minimum '63. 



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