SMALL THRUSHES OF CALIFORNIA. 63 



3. Tardus aonalaschkse Cimel. 



DwAiiF Hermit Thursh. — Habitat, Pacific coast region, 

 from Alaska to Lower California, e;ist, during migrations, 

 to Nevada and Arizona. Breeds from California north- 

 ward. (A. O. U.) 



It is common in winter in this State below the snow belt 

 and I have seen it as high as Big Trees in January, nearly 

 five thousand feet above sea level. It is common in the 

 mountains of southern Lower California in winter. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Nelson (Report upon the Natural Flistory Col- 

 lections made in Alaska, 1887,) there are no records of its 

 occurrence in Alaska much north of Sitka, where it appears 

 to be confined to the mild climate of the timbered coast. 

 Mr. Fannin, of Burrard's Inlet, says: '* It is a rare summer 

 resident." It may breed in California, but I doubt if there 

 is any proof that it does so, although I thought differently 

 until recently. I supposed I had found it breeding in Cala- 

 veras County, but a careful examination of several skins I 

 collected there in summer, satisfies me that they are the Big 

 Tree thrush, as explained elsewhere in this paper. Cap- 

 tain Bendire found a nest at Camp Harney, Southeastern 

 Oregon, June '28. It was on the ground and contained 

 three young and an addled egg, the latter pale green in color, 

 probably paler than usual. Unfertile eggs are often paler 

 and smaller than the average. Dr. Heermann, in Pacific 

 Kailroad Eeports, Yol. X, refers to the breeding of this 

 species in the sandhills about San Francisco, but does not 

 mention T. iistidaius, although he collected about three 

 years in this State. The species I saw at Stockton, June 

 8 (Proceedings National Museum, 1879), was, like Dr. Heer- 

 man's, probably T. ustulatus. On that day I found a colony 

 of small thrushes in a large willow thicket along the Cala- 

 veras River, but could not get a specimen. I saw them in 

 the middle of the day when they were not singing. AVithout 

 specimens, observations on the small thrushes have but little 

 or no value. Dr. J. G. Cooper (Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 1875, 



