Turd\\ s ^» blclcrielll . 



1894, new Hampshire, 



Jim e^ 33. Breozy Point, Waren, 



nc3st v/.is nine feet abo/e the ground the slope of the momitain side 

 was so steep that our faces were now jjisii level with the sitting 

 bird. As no foliage or tv^igs intervened we could study her through 

 our glasses quite as critically as if we had held her in our hands 

 and we satisfied ourselves beyond the remotest shadow of fioubt that 

 she was a Bicleiellis Thrush. After we had looked as long as we 

 cared to I stepped down beneath her and reaching up tapped the 

 twigs about the nest with the inuzzle of my collecting pistol v Even 

 this failed to start her and it was not until I shook the tree 

 gently that she finally left the nest. She flew first to a dead 

 tree some ten yards off, gave her 'plumage a shake and then dis-^ 

 appeared among the dense evergreens. For several minutes we did 

 not see her again but at length she appeared above and behind us 

 talving short flights from branch to branch, approaching us closely 

 when we remained peaffe-G-tty-" motionless, retreating when we stirred. 

 During most of this time she kept perfectly silent but twice or 

 thrice she uttered a succession of low anxious callsv One of these 

 was the characteristic squawk, another a soft pip or peenk so very 

 like that of swainsonii that we could not detect much difference 

 Neither Paxonivor I have ever heard this note before to-day but 

 Faxon heard it just before we left the road and told me that he 

 feared that there was an Olive-back in the thicket. Our bird was 

 making it when I finally shot her but she proved to be a Bicknell^s 



