138 



THE OOLOGIST 



No. 61 — Location of Hermit Tiirush Nest, Shown in No. 50. 



— Photo by Verdi Burtch. 



Nesting of the Hermit Thrush. 



In nearly all of the larger gullies 

 that cut the hills about Branchport 

 and the shores of Lake Keuka, N. Y., 

 the Hermit Thrush can be found mak- 

 ing its summer home. The nest will 

 be found in a little hole in the bank 

 or on a ledge of rock near the rush- 

 ing and tumbling water. It is a bulky 

 affair composed of dead weeds, grass 

 and dead leaves with which is mixed 

 a few dead hemlock twigs and lots of 

 green moss, the whole blending with 

 the moss and dead leaves on the bank 

 in such a manner that it is hardly dis- 

 tinguishable, but to the practiced ob- 

 server there is a certain characteris- 

 tic about it that gives it away every 

 time. Sometimes a nest is placed up 

 from the ground a little, a nest found 



July 2, 1905, was in a tangle of black- 

 berry bushes, two feet from the 

 ground and on a rather level place 

 near the mouth of a gully. It was 

 composed of dead weeds and grass 

 with which was mixed a few hemlock 

 twigs and green moss and was neat- 

 ly lined with dead pine leaves. It was- 

 bulky and deep, and nearly as large 

 as a Grackle's nest. It contained three 

 eggs, greenish blue in color slightly 

 lighter than those of the Wood Thrush 

 or more like those of the Robin. Lat- 

 er. .July 9, I found the nest tipped over 

 and the eggs gone, and the birds were 

 not seen at all. 



Another nest found June 27, 1909 in 

 the Chidsey gully could be easily seen 

 trom a short distance. It was placed 

 in a let of dead leaves that had lodged 



