71 S MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



or gardens, it does no damage to the horticulturist, but on the other hand 

 I'enders httle service to him except during its transient visits on the trip 

 north or south. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult: Entire iipi)er parts, inchidinf;- wiii<;s and tail, rather dark olive; lores and ring 

 around the eye buff; throat and breast tiiiucd witli buff; sides of tliroat with wedge-shaped 

 black spots, the breast with rounded black s])ots; middle of tiie belly white; sides brownish- 

 gray or brownish-a.shy. Sexes alike in size and color. 



Length, 6.50 to 7.50 inches; wing 3.75 to 4; tail about 3. 



323. Hermit Thrush. Hylocichla guttata pallasi (Cab.). (759b) 



Synonyms: Rufous-tailed Thrush, Solitary Thrush, Swamp Robin. — Turdus pallasii, 

 Cabanis, 1847, Baird, 1858, Allen, 1871, B. B. & R., 1874.— Turdus solitarivis, Wils., 1812, 

 Auil., 1839, and others.— Turdus minor, Vieill., 1807.— Turdus nanus, And., 1839 (part). 

 ■ — ^Hylociciila guttata pallasii, Howe, 1901. — Turdus aonalaschkse j^allasii, A. (). U. Clicck- 

 list, bSSf). 



Plate LXX and Figures 151, 152. 



Simihir to the Ohve-back and Gray-cheeked Thrushes, l)ut the upper 

 ])arts not uniform ohve, except on head and back, the rump and tail being 

 deep reddish-brown. The breast also is more heavily spotted than in 

 any of the other thrushes except the Wood Thrush. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, breeding from the northern 

 Alleghanies, the mountainous parts of southern New England, southern 

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

 noi-thern states southward. 



The Hermit Thrush is by far the most abundant of the small thrushes 

 during migration, sometimes appearing in great numbers and always to 

 l)e found commonly in early spring, and 

 again in the fall. It is the earliest of the 

 small thrushes to arrive from the south, 

 usually appearing during the first or second 

 week in April, almost always before the Fig i5i. wing-tip of Hermit Thrush, 



. , ,, p ,, , ,1 • ji ii J. showing spurious first primary. 



middle of that month m the southern part (original.) 

 of the state. Mr. Trombley's dates at 



Petersburgh, Monroe county, range from April 7, 1893 to April 18, 1886, 

 the average l)eing about April 10. At Ann Arbor Mr. Wood's earliest 

 record in twenty-five years is April 2, 1904, the average being the second 

 week of April. At Bay City and at (irand Rapids the species arrives at 

 about the same time, April 7 to April 15, and even at Palmer, Marquette 

 county, it was recorded by Mr. 0. B. Warren April 10, 1893 and April 

 29, 1895. Specimens were killed on Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, 

 May 5, 1889 and June 1, 1892, and a single one October 3, 1893. One 

 was killed on Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, May 18, 1891. The south- 

 ward movement in autumn doubtless begins in September, but is most 

 marked during Octol)er, and the last do not leave the state until the first 

 of Novem])er or even later. 



Althougli an al)undant migrant throughout the entire state it does not 

 nest in the southern counties nor, with rare exceptions, in any counties 

 south of the Saginaw-Grand Valley. There are several reports of nests 

 found in the southern part of the state, but in most cases these doubtless 

 were nests of the Veerv- Dr. Gibbs and Mr. W. A. Gunn secui'od a nest 



