74 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



for about an hour, cease and disperse to feed. Then there 

 is desultory singing from individuals through the morning. 

 Besides the single j^W ^^ P^P ^^ ^^^^ Eobin and the excited 

 pip, pip, pip, it has a high, thin hissing note, very like the 

 Cedar-bird's, but a trifle sharper. A common call-note is a 

 shrill tsee, tsee, often followed by a low tut, tut. 



When a Robin flies over an observer, the white feathers 

 under the tail offer a striking contrast to the dark breast. 

 Just after a Robin lights it almost always pumps its tail 

 vigorously once or twice. When a Robin flies up from 

 the ground, the white spots on the tips of the outer tail- 

 feathers are conspicuous. 



Hermit Thkush. Hylocichla guttata 2)Cillcisii 



7.17 



Ad. — Head, back, and wings olive-brown ; tail reddish-brown ^ 

 throat and breast white, spotted with black. 



Nest, on the ground. Eggs, pale greenish-blue. 



The Hermit Thrush is a common summer resident of 

 northern New York and New England, of the higher por- 

 tions of the Catskill region, and of Berkshire and Worces- 

 ter counties, Massachusetts. It also breeds here and there 

 in cool woods in eastern Massachusetts, and on Cape Cod 

 and Martha's Vineyard. It occasionally spends the win- 

 ter in southern New England and the lower Hudson 

 Valley, feeding at that season on berries. In April and 

 early May, and in October, it is a not uncommon migrant in 

 woodland and thickets, flying up when disturbed into the 

 low limbs of neighboring trees or to stone walls. Here, if 

 it is conscious of observation, it expresses its excitement by 

 slowly elevating its tail, till it makes a considerable angle 

 with the body. This action is also characteristic of the bird 

 when disturbed on its breeding-ground, and is then accom- 

 panied by a harsh, nasal speke, or a thin, hissing note, like 

 the Robin's. It also has in the breeding season a sweet 



