OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. 207 
low cluck or chirp. The nest is placed on the ground. The eggs are of 
a uniform bluish-green color, and measure about .90 by .63 inch. 
TURDUS SWAINSONI. Cab. 
Olive-backed Thrush. 
Turdus swainsont, WHEATON, Ohio Agri. Rep. for 1860 (1861), 379 (probable); Reprint, 
5; in Coues’ Birds of N. W., 1874, 233: Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 
1874 (1875), 562; Reprint, 2.—Lane@pon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 3; Jour. Cin. Soc. 
Nat. Hist., i, 1878, 111; Reprint, 2; Revised List, Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 
169; Reprint, 3. 9 
Turdus swainsonti, CABANIS, Fn. Peru, 1845-46, 187. 
Above uniform greenish olive. Below white, olive shaded on sides. Sides of head, 
throat, neck and breast strongly tinged with buff; breast and throat thickly marked 
with large dusky olive spots. Length about 7; wing 3%; tail 3. 
Habitat, Eastern North America. Ecuador. Brazil. 
Abundant. Migrant. The Olive backed Thrush is the most numer- 
ous of our migrant thrushes. It arrives about the first of May, and may 
be seen until the first of June. They frequent woodland, are less often 
seen along the open banks of streams than the Hermit Thrush. They 
usually appear in scattered flocks and search for food on the ground. 
When disturbed they alight upon the lower branches of neighboring 
trees, where they sit nearly motionless and are frequently quite success- 
ful in concealing themselves. 
They make their appearance in the fall, about the middle of Septem- 
ber, and the migration continues about a month. At this period the 
companies are more compact, and they are to be found in abundance 
feeding upon poke-berries (Phytolacca) and other small fruits. In some 
localities, I have noticed a variety of this bird which averages consider- 
ably smaller, extreme individuals being only 6 inches in length, and 
have the buffy tint emphasized, the back even being slightly suffused 
with tawny, and the buff of breast continued as a median yellowish line to 
the vent. These birds were confined to open, wet woodland with stumps 
and piles of brush. They appeared to be more terrestrial in habit, re- 
minding one somewhat of the Water Thushes. They were the last to 
appear in the spring and remained later. In fall they were the first to 
appear and to depart. I think they probably were of comparatively 
southern or local breeding, not entited to be recognized as a distinct 
variety. | ° 
While with us the Olive-backed Thrush has no song, only the short low 
note of alarm common to others of the genus. At its breeding-places, 
which in the East are from Massachusetts and, perhaps, Connecticut 
