. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH 399 of the woodsman, the sun streaming in between the remaining trunks stimulates the seeds buried by birds and squirrels in the soft mold of the forest floor and starts a dense minia- ture forest of beautiful little spruces. In time these cover the ground to replace the ancient wood and hide the great, moss-covered, decaying trunks on the ground. Here and there young trees of moosewood and black birch are growing, and little brooks fringed by overshadowing ferns prattle noisily down over their beds of age

. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH 399 of the woodsman, the sun streaming in between the remaining trunks stimulates the seeds buried by birds and squirrels in the soft mold of the forest floor and starts a dense minia- ture forest of beautiful little spruces. In time these cover the ground to replace the ancient wood and hide the great, moss-covered, decaying trunks on the ground. Here and there young trees of moosewood and black birch are growing, and little brooks fringed by overshadowing ferns prattle noisily down over their beds of age

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. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH 399 of the woodsman, the sun streaming in between the remaining trunks stimulates the seeds buried by birds and squirrels in the soft mold of the forest floor and starts a dense minia- ture forest of beautiful little spruces. In time these cover the ground to replace the ancient wood and hide the great, moss-covered, decaying trunks on the ground. Here and there young trees of moosewood and black birch are growing, and little brooks fringed by overshadowing ferns prattle noisily down over their beds of age-old moss-grown rocks. Here the winds whisper the secrets of the forest and here the Hermit Thrush with time and eternity all his own, sings his unhurried, ethereal lay. Jays call mournfully. Summer Distribution of the Olive-backed Thrush IN Massachusetts. from the distant tree-tops, and at the foot of the slope we hear the strange chant of the Olive- backed Thrush. The Olive-backed Thrush is a bird of the Canadian Fauna, a bird of the spruce and fir, and its presence in the breeding season seems to be mostly confined to the region of these coniferous trees, but like many other birds it frequents both mixed and deciduous woods during migration, also orchards, gardens and parks where there are trees and shrubbery. Occasionally it searches for grasshoppers, locusts and other insects in open fields near the borders of woods. I have seen a small flock scattered about like Robins in such a field. The bird seems to feed more in the trees, however, than most thrushes and is especially active in catching tree insects. Although the Olive-backed Thrush usually is rather shy, it seldom manifests the extreme caution so often observed in the Gray-cheeked Thrush, and some individuals become quite tame when unmolested. The Olive-backed Thrush seldom appears in any numbers in Massachusetts much before the middle of May, though some stragglers may come early in the month. The comparatively few