360 KEY TO THRUSHES AND BLUEBIRDS 



Hermit Thrush : Turdus ao'nalaschkce pallasii. 



(Plate XXVIII.) 



Geographic Distribution. — Eastern North America, breed- 

 ing from the northern Alleghanies, the mountainous parts of 

 southern New England, southern New York, and noi'thern 

 Michigan, etc., northward, and wintering from the northern 

 states southward. 



The Hermit has a distinguishing reddish tail, 

 which it raises and lowers as it gives its charac- 

 teristic call of chuck. 



The song of the Hermit has the leisurely quality 

 which that of the Olive-backed lacks, and it fades 

 away while the Olive's ' bubbles on ' to the end. 



The songs of the Wood Thrush and Hermit 

 resemble each other in their spiritual quality; 

 but the Hermit has a more chant-like utterance, 

 and its first high strain arouses emotions which 

 its regularly falling cadences carry to a perfect 

 close. The song is one for which many of na- 

 ture's devotees make long jjilgrimages ; and to my 

 mind it excels that of any bird I have ever heard, 

 being, above all others, serene and uplifting. 



Key to Thrushes and Bluebirds. 



1. Back blue. 



Breast reddish brown p. 41. Bluebird. 



1'. Back brown or brownish. 

 2. Under parts bright reddish brown . p. 17. BOBIN. 

 2'. Under parts white, more or less spotted. 

 3. Tail reddish brown. 



Breast thickly spotted. Found in deep woods. Call, 

 chuck p. 360. Hermit Thrush. 



