WESTERN BIRDS Thrush 



note and on a shrub below behold a poised bird. In 

 short flights, from bush to bush, with a little hopping on 

 the ground, slowly, as if making sure that its welcome 

 was assured, it approached. But how different was the 

 departure. When its appetite was satisfied, or if some- 

 thing startled it, with a quick downward swoop, it had 

 disappeared into the depth below and only a brown 

 streak marked its going. 



Though usually we hear only the single note of this 

 bird, sometimes before it goes north it sings its song. 

 Dr. Joseph Grinnell once wrote me that he considered 

 it the sweetest of Thrush music. To me, also, it seems 

 more liquid, and in some indescribable way, sweeter. 

 One familiar with the music of any of these Thrushes 

 will be able to tell what kind of bird is singing, if he 

 is not always able to designate the species. A song 

 which I heard one of these Dwarf Hermits singing in the 

 Yosemite Valley, consisted of two phrases, given with 

 a pause between and the last half sung in a higher pitch. 

 That peculiarity helped me identify the song. 



We are told that another of these Hermit Thrushes 

 breeds in the coast belt in California from northern 

 Trinity County to southern Monterey County, occurring 

 farther south in migration. This is the Monterey Her- 

 mit (H. g. slevini). 



Sierra Hermit Thrush: Hylocichla guttata 

 sequoiensis. 



On the west coast, breeding from British Columbia to 

 the high mountains of southern California, is found still 

 another subspecies of the Hermit. It differs from the 

 eastern form in being larger, paler, and grayer. J. Grin- 

 nell found this Sierra Hermit common in the canyons 

 along the north spurs of San Gorgonio Peak, San Ber- 

 nardino Mountains. Many nests, old and new, were 

 found in June, 1905, and 1906, above 6,300 feet altitude. 



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