I /J. Brewster on BicknelV s Thrush in .New England. [January 
densis , Vaccinimn vitis-idcea , Salix cutleri , Arenaria green - 
landica , Solidago virga-aurea alpina (with flowers on the 
point of opening), and Sniilacina bifolia. 
Around the outskirts of this Alpine wood the trees were 
shrubby and often so densely matted that it was impossible to 
penetrate them, but in the interior one could walk with compar- 
atively little difficulty. As I picked my way between the stems, 
carefully avoiding the many dangerous holes and crevices con- 
cealed beneath the mossy floor, I was forcibly reminded of similar 
forests on the bleak shores of Labrador. The few sunbeams that 
penetrated among the branches had a pale, wintry cast, and at 
intervals the rising wind sighed drearily in the trees. Alto- 
gether there was about the place an air of rugged — almost savage 
wildness, in fit keeping with the grandeur of the surrounding 
scenery. 
In this shaggy forest Thrushes were singing and calling on 
every side, and in the course of an hour or two I managed to 
secure three specimens, one of which was a typical Olive-back, 
while the other two, to my great delight, proved to be the birds 
of which we were in search; viz., representatives of the small 
southern race of T. alicice lately named by Mr. Ridgway in 
honor of its discoverer, Mr. Bicknell, and until now known only 
from Riverdale on the Hudson and the Catskill Mountains of 
New York. 
Although the specimens just mentioned were the only ones 
actually taken, we saw and heard many others, both at the point 
already described, and further down the mountain, in the vicinity 
of the Half-way House. Nor were opportunities wanting for 
comparing the voice and habits of the new bird with those of its 
near relative T. swainsoni , both being frequently found together 
in the same thicket, although the Bicknell’s Thrushes were the 
more numerous throughout the region of stunted spruces, while 
the Olive-backs predominated in the heavy timber below. 
The song of Bicknell’s Thrush is exceedingly like that of 
Swainson’s ; indeed, to my ear, the usual strain, though rather 
feebler, was nearly indistinguishable; but occasionally — per- 
haps on the average once in the course of five or six repeti- 
tions — a peculiar, and apparently perfectly characteristic bar 
was interpolated. This was a flute-like per-pseueo-pseiieo given 
quickly and in a tone which, at a little distance, closely resem- 
