*883*] Brewster on BichnelVs Thrush tti New England. I C 
bled that of the Solitary Vireo’s well-known voice. The respec- 
tive call-notes of the two birds, however, were radically 
different. That of T. swainsoni is a musical pip or peenk as 
liquid in tone as the sound of dropping water. The call of 
bicknelli , on the contrary, was harsh and far from pleasing. 
Usually it was a single loud, penetrating queep , often abbreviated 
to quee , and occasionally varied to que&cth with a falling inflec- 
tion. At a distance this note sounded not unlike the cry of a 
Nighthawk. Near at hand it had a peculiarly startling effect in 
the silence of these solitary woods, and I noticed that it left a 
disagreeable, jarring sensation on the ear. Once or twice it re- 
called the pheu of the Tawny Thrush, but ordinarily it was 
sharper and higher pitched. 
In a general way the habits and actions of these Thrushes may 
be said to be identical, but bicknelli is a much shyer, noisier and 
more restless bird than its cousin the Olive-back. Indeed I found 
it next to impossible to creep within shot of one, for long before 
I was near enough the wary bird would take flight, to resume 
its singing or calling at some distant and perhaps inaccessible 
point on the steep mountain side below. The only successful 
method of proceeding proved to be that of lying in wait near 
the spot whence one had been driven, for in a short time it 
was almost sure to return, prompted, apparently, by curiosity, 
which I found I could stimulate by making a shrill chirping 
or squeaking. On such occasions the bird would approach 
by short, cautious flights, keeping itself so well concealed 
that it would often come within a few yards and retire again 
without once exposing itself to view. Indeed the two speci- 
mens taken were only secured by snap shots directed almost 
at random towards some opening in the branches where the 
flash of a wing betrayed its owner’s movements. 
Judging from the necessarily imperfect observations made dur- 
ing my hurried reconnoisance, the Bicknell’s Thrushes are most 
abundant, on Mt. Washington, in the belt of stunted firs and 
spruces which border the upper edge of the heavy timber, at an 
elevation of about 3800 feet. From this point their numbers 
rapidly diminished as we descended, and the last one positively 
identified was met with at an elevation of (approximately) 3000 
feet. Their range upwards is probably co-extensive with that 
of their favorite spruce thickets, for, as already stated, they were 
