20 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Turdus pallasi, vai. nanus, Audubon. 



DWARF HERMIT THRUSH. 



Turdus iiamis, AuD. Oin. Hiog. V, 1839, 201, pi. cei. — Baihd, Birds N. A. 1858, 213 ; 

 Kev. Am. B. 1864, 15. — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859. —Ib. Catal. 1861. — Dall & Ban- 

 xiSTEit. — Cooper, Birds Cal., p. 4. Turdus pallasi, var. nanus, Ridgway, Eej). 

 Kings Exped. V, 1872. ? Turdus aonalaschkce, Gmelin, S. N. I, 1788, 808. ?! Mus- 

 cicapH yuttulu, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-Asiat. II, ISll, 465. 



Sp. Char. Above with the clear dark olive of swainsoni, but this even purer and 

 more plumbeous Upper tail-coverts (but not lower part of rump) becoming more rufou.-^, 

 the tail abruptly darker, richer, and more pwr^Zis/i-rufous, approaching to chestnut. The 

 clear olive of the neck passes into hrownhh-plumbeous along sides ; pectoral spots more 

 spai'se and less pure black than in T. pallasi. The white beneath is of an almost snowy 

 purity, appreciably diflerent from the cottony-white of T. p)allasi. Wing, 3.30 ; tail, 3.00; 

 bill, .36 ; tarsus, 1.07. 



A very tangible and constant character possessed by this bird is the more slender and 

 depressed bill, as compared with that of T. pallasi. Specimens vary only in intensity of 

 colors; these variations very limited, and corresponding with those of T. pallasi. In all 

 cases, however, their precise pattern and peculiar distribution is retained. 



Hab. Western Province of North America, eastward from Kodiak to Cape St. Lu!'as. 

 Arizona, Coues. 



Habits. This small race of the Hermit Thrush was first noticed by Dr. 

 Pickering, and described by Mr. Audubon from an imperfect skin. It 

 has since been obtained abundantly on the Pacific slope, and Mr. Ridgway 

 procured a specimen as far east as the East Humboldt Mountains, which 

 he considers its eastern limit. 



In its haliits it is said to be, like T. 'pallasi, almost exclusively terrestrial. 

 Dr. Heermann mentions finding it abundant in California, and breeding 

 among the stunted oaks covering the sand-hills of San Francisco. Dr. 

 Coues found it in Arizona, but speaks of it as rare and migratory, occurring 

 chiefly in spring and autunni, and as a shy and retuing species. Dr. Cooper, 

 in his Peport on the Birds of California, describes it as shy and timid, pre- 

 ferring dark and shady thickets, feeding chiefly on the ground, running 

 rapidly, and searching for insects among the leaves. 



Xear San Diego they began to sing about the 25th of April. The song, 

 consisting of a few low ringing notes, resembles that of Wilson's Tln^usli 

 [T. fuscescens), and also that of T. ustidatus, but is not so loud. Their note 

 of alarm is a loud and ringing chirp, repeated and answered by others at a 

 long distance. 



At Santa Cruz, on the first of June, Dr. Cooper met with several of tl)eii' 

 nests, which, though proliably erroneously, he supposed to belong to the 

 Dwarf Hermit Thrush. They were all built in thickets under tlie shade 

 of cottonwood-trees. Each nest was about five feet from the ground, and 

 all contained eggs, from two to four in number, in differing stages of incuba- 

 tion. The nests were built of dry leaves, roots, fibres, grasses, and liavk. 



