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Range (Breeds from Manitoba northern)

Breeds from Manitoba, northern New England, and New Brunswick to Alaska and Labrador, and southward in the Rocky Mountains, and along the Alleghanies to Pennsylvania; winters in the tropics. Washington, common T. V., May 4 to 28; Sept. 22 to Oct. 25. Sing Sing, tolerably common T. V., May 2 to 30; Sept. 19 to Oct. 22. Cambridge, common T. V., May 12 to June 3; Sept. 10 to Oct. 5. Nest, of coarse grasses, moss, rootlets, leaves, and bark, lined with rootlets and grasses, in bushes or small trees, about four feet up. Eggs, three to four, greenish blue, more or less spotted and speckled with cinnamon-brown or rufous, 90 x 64.

Passing northward in the spring, in small, silent bands, scattered through the woodland undergrowth, whence they quietly slip away, if disturbed, often to the higher branches of the trees, these birds easily escape observation. In late September or early October their loud, metallic call-notes may be recognized overhead at night, and during the day the birds themselves may be found on the edges of the woods or along tangled hedgerows, associated with Sparrows and other migrants. Their summer home is in the coniferous forest of the north, although they do not confine themselves strictly to the evergreen woods, and, avoiding its depths, seek rather the vicinity of clearings well grown up with firs and spruces: Here, day after day, the same musician may be seen pouring forth his ringing song from some commanding elevation-preferably a dead tree top. If approached, he promptly dives down into the underbrush, where he is very likely joined by his mate, and both proceed to scold, in a mild way, the chance intruder. Little is ever seen of these shy birds, but fortunately their notes are quite characteristic, and the sole obstacle in distinguishing them from those of the Hermit Thrush, a bird frequenting the same localities, lies in the difficulty of tracing them to their source. The effect of its loud and beautiful song is much enhanced by the evening hush in which it is most often heard. It lacks the leisurely sweetness of the Hermit Thrush's outpourings, nor is there pause, but in lower key and with greater energy it bubbles on rapidly to a close rather than fading out with the soft melody of its renowned rival. There are also a variety of other notes, the most frequent being a pŭk of alarm, pitched higher than a corresponding cluck of the Hermit Thrush.

J. DWIGHT, JR.

THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 759b. Turdus aonalaschkæ pallasii (Cab.). HERMIT THRUSH. Ad.-Upper parts olive-brown, sometimes cinnamon-brown; tail pale rufous, of a distinctly different color from the back; throat and breast with a slight buffy tinge: feathers of the sides of the throat with wedge-shaped black spots at their tips; those of the breast with large, rounded spots; middle of the belly white; sides brownish gray or brownish ashy. L., 7.17; W., 3.56; T., 2.74; B., 51.