The Hermit Thrush 103 



looking uiultT tlir l)iaiulic>. In ^uc h ( ;i>c>, or when tlic Thrush is llushed from 

 the nest, if she is nuM-cix iiuuhatiii;^, she usiuill\- disappears quietly. When the 

 young are in the nest, the bird acts more disturbed, often mounting a stump 

 or branch, and calling cliiti k! chuck! chuck! or sometimes p-e-e-p! p-e-e-p! This 

 almost always attracts the attention of her mate and the other Thrushes, who 

 respond in numbers, and join their call> to the chorus of chucks and peeps. I 

 have known the bird, however, to tly awa\- alnio>l witliout a ])rotest, even when 

 the young were taken from the nest. 



August 22, 1909, while gathering blueberries for the tame Thrushes, I flushed 

 a Hermit I'hrush from her nest, containing three eggs. This is the latest date 

 on which I have found the Hermit Thrush nesting. 



August 27, three young were hatched; twelve days later, Sei)tember 8, the 

 nestlings left the nest before 9 o'clock. 



The time of incubation, as one can readily see from tlie above record, is twelve 

 days; the young remain in the nest twelve days, and leave early in the morning, 

 as a general thing. One egg is laid each day about ten o'clock in the morning, 

 and the bird begins to incubate by 12 o'clock of the day the clutch is completed. 



I have found the number of eggs in a set to vary from four to two. I should 

 judge from the nesting dates I have gathered that the Hermit Thrush, like its 

 cousin the Robin, raises from two to three broods during a season. 



Summary of Observations on the Hermit Thrush 



1905. — A])ril 23, First seen; ]May 27, Incubating four eggs; June 27, Incubat- 

 ing four eggs. 



1906. — May 21, First seen; July 9, Incubating four eggs. 



1907. — April 27, First heard; June 14, Incubating three eggs; June 15, 

 Incubating three eggs; June 23, Nest destroyed; June 23, A nest completed — 

 three eggs later; July 21, Bird incubating three eggs. 



1908. — April 23, Saw two Thrushes; June 2, Bird incubating four eggs; 

 June 4, Bird incubating four eggs; June 8, Three large birds about ten days old. 

 July 3, Bird incubating two eggs; October 25, Last seen; August 14, Last heard 

 in song. 



1909. — April 20, First heard; May 26, Nest containing two eggs, four the 

 following day; August 11, Nest containing three birds, two days old, judged; 

 August 23, Bird incubating three eggs, hatched August 27, left the nest Septem- 

 ber 8; August 4, In full song; August 14, Last heard singing; voice thin; October 

 31, Last seen; November 6, Last responded to my call. 



