The Hermit Thrush loi 



imperfect attempts of a younj,' hird. Later llian thai the Ilcrniit 'riirush 

 seldom sings. 



It is to 1)C regretted tliat so many of the young fail to mature. A record kept 

 for five years, containing tlie history of fourteen nests and forty-seven eggs, 

 shows that only nineteen lledglings left the nest. The dflVpring of twenty-eight 

 birds were niiu-lt'i'n. M\ notes on Olive-baiked Thrush and Robin show even 

 more fatal data, a> their nests are larger and most of them so badly exposed. I 

 wish to emphasize the fact that these ver\- beautiful, insectivorous birds lead 

 a most precarious existence, having to contend not onh' with wild foes but with 

 the ever-prevalent, half-fed cat. 



The Hermit Thrush usualb- nests in ()})en spaces in an unfrcfjuented wood, 

 beside a wood-road or even a (|uiet street, and on the borders of pastures skirted 

 by woodlands. The nest is jilaced, generally, under a low fir tree, occasionally 

 under the tip of a long fir branch, rarely in a clump of ferns. A swamp appears 

 to be a necessary concomitant. Seven nests were located in a knoll, two in a 

 damp hollow, and six just above the swale in the dry earth of a hillside. In almost 

 every case, the slight excavation for the foundation of the nest was made in the 

 loam of a decayed log or stump. 



The nests are very much alike. The outside of the structure is composed 

 of moss, dead wood, twigs and hay; it is lined with a small amount of black, 

 hair-like fiber, and pine needles. Once or twice the foundation of the nest con- 

 sisted of more than the ordinary amount of moss. At another time it was made 

 almost entirely of sticks or twigs. Fourteen were lined with pine needles, one with 

 the red fruit stems of bird wheat moss, and bird wheat moss. The proportions 

 of all nests are about the same. The one constructed entirely of twigs was about 

 a half-inch thicker at the top than the others. 



In two or three cases, I have found the Hermit Thrush very timid. Generally, 

 the bird flies from the nest as a person approaches, or runs away over the leaves 

 with head and tail drawn down, to appear less conspicuous, mounts a branch 

 at a safe distance, regards one a few instants, while it slowly raises and lowers 

 its tail, then glides from sight. One or two have been so tame that I have had to 

 put my hand out, as if to touch them, to drive them from the nest. 



In 1907, beginning June 14, I found five nests, the last on July i. Each 

 clutch of this year contained three eggs. Either the eggs or the \oung were 

 destroyed in all these nests save one, and that, I believe, was the second nest of 

 the bird that season. The fate of the other two nests was a great disaj)point- 

 ment. In the hope of finding one more, I entered the next pasture, and turned 

 over each small fir carefully, to see if its fragrant branches concealed one of 

 the coveted abodes. Under almost the first fir, I saw a large beautifull\- made 

 nest with the lining of the bottom and side torn out. Here was another defeat; 

 but, behold! On the top of a knoll a few yards away was what appeared to be 

 a freshly made nest. I concluded that these were both nests of the Hermit Thrush; 

 that the first nest I found had been destroved, that the bird went awav a short 



