ro NESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



among which are earthworms, the larvte of various moths and 

 butterflies, inckiding the tent-caterpillar, the young of flies, 

 small moths and beetles, and small fruit, cherries and straw- 

 berries, when these are adapted to their age and condition. 



Young wood thrushes are said to be easily reared in confine- 

 ment. 



4. THE HERMIT THRUSH. 



TURDUS PALLASI Cabanis. 



Solitary and Rufous Tailed Thrush ; Ground Swamp Robin (Maine) ; 

 Rain-Bird (Nova Scotia). 



The typical hermit thrush ranges all over eastern North 

 America, wintering in the southern states, whence it spreads 

 northward in the spring, reaching New England by May i. 

 It breeds in the AUeghanies from Pennsylvania northward., 

 but in New England only north of the hilly parts of Massachu- 

 setts ; thence to Labrador, the islands in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, and perhaps Greenland ; also in Colorado. Dr. C. C. 

 Abbott says that this thrush seems to be less common in New 

 Jersey than Audubon described it to be, and that about one in 

 twenty which pass the city of Trenton breeds, retiring for that 

 purpose about June i . Dr. Abbott also assures me that Mr. 

 Cassin once told him that he had found a nest of the hermit in 

 a swamp at Camden, N. J. 



The nest of this thrush is always built upon, or close to 

 the ground, usually away from the woods, and under bushes 

 in swampy places. "Such care is taken to conceal its nest in 

 the recesses of tangled undergrowth, that few are the orni- 

 thologists who have found it. If Wilson, Nuttall, or Au- 

 dubon ever saw a nest, no one of them recognized its owner. 

 The nests and eggs which they describe as those of the hermit 

 were certainly the olive-backed thrush's, the only one which nests 

 at any considerable distance from the ground and lays spotted 

 eggs." Dr. Brewer mentions that in Parsboro, Nova Scotia, 

 he saw one in the midst of the village, but in a marshy place, 

 nearly unapproachable. At Upton, Me., Mr. Maynard found 

 two nests on top of decayed logs, and Mr. Samuels has several 

 which he took from low scrubby bushes ; I have heard of other 



