THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 
495 
757a. H. a. bicknelli Ridgw. Bicknell’s Thrush. Similar to the 
preceding, but smaller. L., 6*25-7*25; W., 3*40-3*80; T., 2*60-2*70; B., 
*50-*52 (Ridgw.). 
Range. — E. N. Am. Breeds in Hudsonian and upper Canadian zones in 
N. S., mts. of n. New England, the Catskills and Adirondacks of N. Y., and 
probably mts. of w. Mass. ; migrates through se. U. S. and the Bahamas; 
winters in Haiti and probably n. S. A. 
Washington, apparently rare T. V., May 14-23; Oct. 3. Cambridge, 
rather common T. V., May 2-May 30; Sept. 25-Oct. 5. 
Nest , essentially like that of H. u. swainsoni, both in construction and 
position. Eggs , greener and more finely spotted than those of swainsoni 
(Brewster, Minot’s Land Birds and Game Birds, 2d ed., appendix, 468). 
Date , Seal Island, N. S., June 13 (Thayer Coll.). 
“In northern New England Bicknell’s Thrush breeds from an alti- 
tude of about three thousand feet (scattered pairs may be found lower 
than this) to the extreme upper limits of tree growth, but most abun- 
dantly among the dwarfed, densely matted spruces and balsams which 
cover such extensive areas on the upper slopes and ridges of our higher 
mountains. Here, in an atmosphere always cool and ordinarily satu- 
rated with moisture from passing clouds, it spends the summer in 
company with such birds as Swainson’s Thrushes, Winter Wrens, 
Y ellow-rumped and Black-poll Warblers, Juncos, White- throated 
Sparrows, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers. In many places it is quite 
as numerous as any of these species, and in certain favored localities 
it probably outnumbers them all put together. Nevertheless one may 
spend hours in its chosen haunts without getting a fair view of a sin- 
gle individual, for, despite (or perhaps really because of) the fact that 
these solitudes are rarely invaded by man, Bicknell’s Thrush is, while 
breeding, one of the very shyest of our smaller birds. . . . 
“The song is exceedingly like that of the Veery, having the same 
ringing, flutelike quality; but it is more interrupted, and it ends dif- 
ferently — the next to the last note dropping a half tone, and the final 
one rising abruptly and having a sharp emphasis. The ordinary calls 
are a whistled pheu practically identical with that of H. fuscescens, a 
harsh note which recalls the cry of the Night Hawk, a low cluck much 
like that of the Hermit Thrush, and a pip or peenk similar to that of 
Swainson’s [ = Olive-backed] Thrush. The last is rarely heard” (Brews- 
ter, Minot’s Land and Game Birds, p. 467). 
1882. Bicknell, E. P., Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VII, 152-159. — 1883. 
Brewster, W., Ibid, VIII, 12-17 (biographical). 
758a. Hylocichla ustulata swainsoni ( Tschudi ). Olive-backed 
Thrush. Ad. Upperparts uniform olive; back and tail practically the same 
color ; eye-ring deep cream-buff , lores the same; whole throat and breast with 
a strong tinge of deep cream-buff or even ochraceous-buff ; the feathers of the 
sides of the throat with wedge-shaped black spots at their tips, those of the 
breast with rounded black spots at their tips; middle of the belly white; 
sides brownish gray or brownish ashy. L., 7*17; W., 3*93; T., 2*76; B., *50. 
Remarks. — This bird will be confused only with the Gray-cheeked and 
Bicknell’s Thrushes, from which it differs in the much stronger suffusion of 
buff on the throat and breast, its buff eye-ring and lores. 
Range. — N. A. Breeds in lower Hudsonian and Canadian zones from 
