64 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA. fNo. 4 



sivainsoui taken on May 2, 1902, which is the earhest date on which T 

 have noted them, and they remain until about the end of tlie month. 



Hylocichla guttata (Pallas). Alaska Hermit Thrush. 



The Hermit Thrushes as found in this region arc an interesting 

 though rather puzzling group, for though the individuals were never at 

 all abundant, the number of varieties found passing through during the 

 migrations was surprising. The birds were all extremely shy and hard 

 to approach, and it was only by hard work that I managed to secure as 

 many specimens as I did. In all twenty-four Hermit Thrushes were 

 obtained, representing the folowing races: guttata (9), auduboni (10), 

 nana (i). slei'ini (4). These figures probably represent pretty accu- 

 rately the relative abundance of the various races. The specimens of 

 guttata were all taken at a low altitude, none above 5500 feet ; usually in 

 thick brush along the canyon streams. One specimen (No. 3434, March 

 I, 1903) is an extremely grayish colored bird, with the spots on the 

 breast ill-defined and run together, and may possibly represent the 

 Siera Nevada form scquoiepsis, but in size it does not dififer from true 

 guttata. 



Possibly a few of these thrushes spend the winter in the Huachucas, 

 for one was taken as early as February 19 (1903) ; the last secured was 

 on April 20 (1902). 



Hylocichla guttata auduboni (Baird). Audubon Hermit Thrush. 



Very possibly this thrush breeds in some parts of the Huachucas, 

 though if it does it must be in very limited numbers, for personally I 

 have never met with it except in the migrations. I secured most of my 

 specimens of auduboni in the hio'hest parts of the range, feeding, not in 

 the thick bushes and underbrush, as most of the thrushes do, but on 

 the open ground under the big pines, scratching and w^orking in the pine 

 needles with which the ground was thickly covered. One or two speci- 

 mens were secured in the canyons as low as 6000 feet, but the great ma- 

 jority of the birds seen were along the divide of the mountain, from 

 8500 feet upward. The earliest arrival noted was one secured on April 

 18 (1903), and the latest a female shot by W. B. Judson on May 19- 

 (1896). This last is in badly worn plumage and may have been a breed- 

 ing bird ; they were most abundant about the first week in May. 



Hylocichla guttata nana (Audubon). Dwarf Hermit Thrush. 



From its extremely dark coloration and rich markings I have 

 ascribed to this race a female, shot in a thick tangle of wild grape vines 

 and other shrubbery, near the mouth of Miller Canyon on April 6, 1903. 



Hylocichla guttata slevini (Grinnell). Monterey Hermit Thrush. 



This seems to me to be a perfectly distinct and easily distinguish- 

 able variety, about the recognition of which there should be no hesita- 

 tion, for in size it departs from guttata as far to one extreme as auduboni 

 does to the other; and the extremclv pale coloration of sle^'ini also ren- 

 ders it one of the most easily recognized of the rather puzzling branches 

 into which the Hermit Thrush divides. At first it seems strange to find 

 a bird belonging so decidedly to the Pacific Coast wandering as far as 

 eastern Arizona, but when we consider that such species as the Hermit 

 and Townsend Warblers, Cassin Vireo, and others, pass regularly 

 through this region, it is evident that there is a regular line of migra- 

 tion from the Pacific Coast to the southeast, in spite of the formidable 



