158 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



lisp not unlike that of a cedar waxwing. The oliveback utters a 

 similar nasal note, but it is more liquid in quality and the cluck of 

 the hermit may be compared to the puk or pink of the oliveback. 

 The lisp is peculiar to the hermit, while there is a queer multiple note 

 of soliloquy peculiar to the oliveback. 



Norman McClintock (1910) has recorded the various notes uttered 

 by the hermit thrushes about a nest which he observed at close range 

 from a blind. He frequently heard a note resembling quirk or quoit, 

 which was uttered when the birds were slightly suspicious or when 

 they mildly protested against the presence of an intruder. A second 

 note was a high-pitched, thin, and wiry call resembling a cedar 

 waxwing's note but pitched several tones higher. This note was 

 used in warning the young of approaching danger. "To the little 

 birds this call meant ' freeze'. " McClintock continues: 



A third note, which this pair of Hermits used signified extreme distress. This 

 note sounded to me much like the note of a hoarse Canary. I can best describe 

 it by the word boyb, spoken slowly and with a rising inflection. The note also 

 reminded me of a mew of a kitten. Boyb was uttered by the thrushes with the 

 mandibles well open, whereas the Cedar-bird call was made with the mandibles 

 almost closed. 



Besides the three notes described, there was a much used conversational note 

 that evidently contained no implication of suspicion or trouble and was a strong 

 contrast with the several notes already described. It was an exceedingly soft 

 and sweet little note that could be heard but a few feet, and which I can best 

 describe by wee. Wee was used by the parents to each other and to the young. 

 It seemed, however, to be mostly employed to herald to the young the parents' 

 approach with food. At a distance of six or eight feet from the nest a single 

 wee from a parent would announce to the young the former's proximity. As the 

 parent hopped closer, the wees were rapidly repeated, wee-wee-wee-wee, and the 

 nearer the parent came to the nest, the softer the wees were uttered, until they 

 were faint whispers. To these wees the young responded, during their first days, 

 by erecting their heads and opening wide their mouths; but later, when they became 

 more mature, they would rise to their feet upon hearing the first wee and ener- 

 getically beg for food. * * * 



The fifth, and only remaining note, was one I heard but twice and both times 

 it came from the male. It was an indescribable explosive twitter of ecstasy 

 made with fluttering wings. I first heard it on August 3, immediately after the 

 male had been singing for four minutes. On another day, it was uttered in the 

 presence of the female, who was close by and towards whom it was directed. 



According to Miss Cordelia Stanwood (1910) the fledglings give a 

 clear sweet whistle, p-e-e-p, a soft, husky, breathing sound, phee-phee, 

 and occasionally pit-pit-pit!, an almost inaudible ventriloquial call. 



The adults are also capable of a certain amount of ventriloquial 

 power. Quite often when closely observing a hermit thrush sing 

 while I was concealed in the blind only a few feet distant, the voice 

 seemed to come from an individual located far away from the scene. 

 The song probably could not be heard by an observer stationed 50 



