_Hylocichla aliciæ aliciæ. Case 8, Fig. 82_
Upperparts uniform olive; eye-ring whitish, not
buffy as in the Olive-backed Thrush (Case 8, Fig.
81); sides of throat and breast less buffy than in
the Olive-back. L. 7-1/2.
_Range._ Nests north of the United States.
Bicknell's Thrush (_H. a. bicknelli_) a slightly
smaller, southern form, nests in the higher parts
of the Catskills, the mountains of northern New
York and northern New England, and northward and
eastward into Canada; both visit us in migration
and both winter in the tropics.
Washington, rather common T.V., May 8-31; Sept.
15-Oct. 20. Ossining, tolerably common T.V., May
15-June 1; Sept. 20-Oct. 17. Cambridge, uncommon
T.V., May 18-28; Sept. 15-Oct. 9. N. Ohio, not
common T.V., Apl. 29-May 23. Glen Ellyn, common
T.V., May 7-June 4; Aug. 26-Oct. 9. SE. Minn.,
common T.V., May 7-; Sept. 8.
The Gray-cheeked and Bicknell's Thrushes are merely the larger northern
and smaller southern forms, respectively, of the same species. They are
known in the United States chiefly as migrants and can be distinguished
with certainty in life only by an expert under favorable conditions. The
larger form is the commoner. The species may be known from the Veery and
Wood Thrush by its olive, instead of cinnamon-brown back, and from the
Olive-backed Thrush by its whitish eye-ring and paler breast.
Brewster describes the song of the southern form (Bicknell's Thrush) as
exceedingly like that of the Veery but more interrupted, while the
ordinary call-note is practically identical with the _pheu_ of the
Veery. The nest is placed in low trees or bushes. The eggs are greenish
blue spotted with brown.