EASTERN HERMIT THRUSH 161 



found at Topsham, Maine, on June 6, 1941. This nest contained two 

 eggs of the hermit thrush and two eggs of the cowbird. No opportu- 

 nity was presented to visit this nest a second time. 



In addition to enemies and parasites the hermit thrush is subject to 

 many hazards especially during the migration season. Along the coast 

 of Maine the lighthouses exact their toll of these birds especially dur- 

 ing the heavy fogs and storms which often prevail during that season 

 of the year. Mention has already been made elsewhere of the destruc- 

 tion to the earlier migrants, which succumb to sudden excessive cold 

 waves and late snowstorms, especially when the available food is cov- 

 ered by a deep fall of snow. 



W. E. Saunders (1907) records a fall migration disaster in western 

 Ontario as follows: 



The early days of October, 1906, were warm and damp, but on the 6th came a 

 north wind which carried the night temperature down to nearly freezing. Near 

 there it stayed with little variation until the 10th, * * * the north wind 

 brought snow through the western part of Ontario. At London there was only 2 

 or 3 inches, which vanished early next day; and the thermometer fell to only 32 

 degrees on the night of the 10th, and to 28 on the 11th, but ten miles west, there 

 was 5 inches of snow at 5 P. m. Oct. 10, and towards Lake Huron, at the southeast 

 corner, between Goderich and Sarnia, the snow attained a depth of nearly a foot 

 and a half, and the temperature dropped considerably lower than at London. On 

 that night, apparently, there must have been a heavy migration of birds across 

 Lake Huron, and the cold and snow combined overcame many of them, so that 

 they fell in the lake and were drowned. 



Along the shore of the lake near Port Franks there were an estimated 

 5,000 dead birds to the mile along the beach. On the beach south of 

 Grand Bend, Mr. Saunders counted 1,845 dead birds, including 20 

 hermit thrushes, in a relatively short time. On the beach at Sable 

 River he found the dead birds even more numerous than at Grand 

 Bend, the site of the above census. Mr. Saunders states that the bulk 

 of the hermit thrushes had already passed by on October 6, yet they 

 were well represented among the dead birds found. 



Winter. — More than in the case of the other thrushes a considerable 

 number of individual hermits spend the winter months in regions well 

 noith of the well-established winter lange of the species. In corre- 

 spordence from E. M. S. Dale he states that it is not unusual for the 

 hermit thrush to winter in Ontario. He mentions one individual in 

 particular that lived through the winter of 1941-42 at London, 

 Ontario. It fed on currants supplemented by gleanings of suet 

 and other food from the food shelf of the chickadees and downy wood- 

 peckers. Its favorite spot was a corner of the front veranda, sheltered 

 by a discarded Christmas tree, in the lee of which the currants were 

 placed. It disappeared when the spring brought others of its kind 

 on their journey north. 



