BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
99 
The nest, a bulky affair of coarse materials, is built on the ground or 
in a low bush. It is not always easy to distinguish between this 
species and the Hermit, by sight, but when the light is right, the 
breast spots are seen to be much fainter than those of the Hermit, 
and the back, rusty red throughout, in contrast with the Hermit's, 
which is olive from crown to rump. 
Hylocichla ustulatus swainsonii. Olive-backed 
Thrush. 758a. 
Though Durham is within sixty or seventy miles of the summer 
home of this thrush, it is but rarely seen here. I suppose the major- 
ity fly over without stopping so near the end of their migration. In 
other words we are not a day's journey from the Olive-back's home, 
and being of a business-like nature, it does not visit this historic spot 
merely because it is a point of interest to men. I have looked for 
them year after year, but not until the spring of 1900 was my labor 
rewarded. On the twenty-second of May, that year, I discovered one, 
near sunset, making its way across some cultivated land by short 
flights. I surmised that it was taking advantage of the approaching 
dusk to go from one piece of woods to another, as it showed no incli- 
nation to stop and feed. Other observers, who had looked in vain as 
long as I, were not less fortunate that spring. In the central part of 
the state, where they are as rare as here, they were common for a 
week or more. It is readily distinguished from the other thrushes by 
its back, which is dark olive throughout. 
Hylocichla guttata pallasii. Hermit Thrush. 759b. 
The Hermit Thrush is a summer resident. A pair or two may usu- 
ally be found in the dense pines near the college reservoir, and other 
similar growths are likely to shelter them ; but I have never found 
them nearly so plentiful here as they are nearer the mountains. My 
earliest note of their arrival in spring is dated April 5, but as a rule it 
is nearer the middle of that month when they are first seen. In 
autumn the main flight occurs about the twentieth of October, though 
more or less linger till well in November. Their food consists mainly 
of insects and berries. In October I have known them to eat freely of 
the berries of the common elder. I am usually able to distinguish this 
species in the woods, by the color of its back and tail, if I can get it 
in proper light. The tail is rusty, in marked contrast with the olive- 
brown back and head. The breast, too, is rather heavily spotted, far 
more so than that of Wilson's Thrush, the only other likely to be seen 
