Bird studies; an account of the land birds of eastern North America (1898) (14753268814)

Identifier: birdstudiesaccou00scot (find matches)
Title: Bird studies; an account of the land birds of eastern North America
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Scott, William Earl Dodge, 1852-1910
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York and London, G. P. Putnam's sons
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries



Text Appearing Before Image:
white of the body. The sexes are alike. The young are more pro-fusely and obscurely spotted below and have the feathers of the upper partsstreaked with lig-ht buff or dull white. Adult birds are about seven incheslong. The nest is built of leaves and coarse grasses lined with finer material.It is placed on the ground, and three or four pale greenish blue eggs arelaid. These are nearly nine tenths of an inch long and about two thirds ofan inch in their smaller diameter. The bird while perhaps the most abun-dant of our thrushes during its migrations, the earliest to come in the spring,and remaining the latest of the group in the fall, is retiring in its habits, pre-ferring the solitude of the deep woods, and is therefore not so well known orso often seen. It is found throughout Eastern North America, breeds from the North-ern United States northward, and southward in the higher Alleghanies intoPennsylvania. It winters from southern New Jersey and southern Illinoisto the Gulf States. 93
Text Appearing After Image:
94 HERMIT THRUSH. In the Woods. 95 The Olive-backed Thrush averages a little smaller than the Hermit Thrush. The upper parts are continuous olive, including wings and tail. A ring around the eyes is buff and the sides of the face from the bill have a ground of clear bright buff with brownish Turdusustuiatusswainsonii or dusky streaks. The under parts are white with a suffu- ^^^ sion of buff, the spots on the throat are similar to those of the Hermit Thrush, being arrow shaped at the tips of the feathers. Those of the breast are round and ai the extremity of t\\G. feathers. The belly is white and the sides grayish olive brown. This bird has much the same breeding range as the Hermit but beginsto breed rather farther north. It appears in the Middle States much later inthe spring and earlier in the fall, and winters in the West Indies, Central andSouth America. Its nest is built in low bushes or small trees, near the ground, and is madeof mosses, grass, leaves, strips of bark and fine ro