BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 389 



our garden. When on their breeding grounds, they are among the shyest and 

 most retiring of birds, but during their migratory visits to the Cambridge 

 Region they show almost no fear of man. 



Much has been written concerning the song of the Hermit Thrush. It is 

 generally, and, I think, rightly, judged to be superior to that of any other New 

 England bird. To appreciate it fully one must visit a region where the Hermit 

 is breeding in numbers, for this Thrush seldom sings freely or well e.xxept in its 

 summer haunts and the songs of different birds are unequal in merit. When 

 three or four males are singing together it will usually be noticed that one out- 

 classes all the others. Occasionally one may be met with whose notes are sim- 

 ply perfect in tone and faultless in execution. To listen to a bird of this class 

 singing in the gloaming and sending his impressive voice far and wide over 

 some lake or clearing deep in the heart of a primitive forest, is rich reward for 

 a long and difficult journey. One must travel far beyond the confines of the 

 Cambridge Region to enjoy such an experience, but Hermit Thrushes may be 

 heard under somewhat less favorable conditions almost any evening in June or 

 July about the northern shores of Fairhaven Bay, in Concord, Massachusetts. 



Although the Hermit Thrush usually passes well to the southward of New 

 England to spend the winter, it has been repeatedly observed at that season near 

 Boston. On January 12, 1891, Mr. Walter Faxon saw one in pine woods near 

 the Convalescent Home at Waverley, and on February 14 of the following year 

 Mr. Ralph Hoffmann found two others in the same neighborhood feeding on 

 privet berries. A bird was also met with somewhere in Cambridge by Mr. 

 Frank Bolles in February, 1892, while in 1901 I found one in Mount Auburn 

 on December 7, and on the 13th, 14th, i6th and 17th of the same month another 

 was noted in the Botanic Garden by Mr. Richard S. Eustis. During the win- 

 ter of 1903-1904 a Hermit appeared in our garden almost daily from December 

 16 to 31, and afterwards at frequent intervals up to February 9. This bird 

 was fed regularly on bread crumbs by Mr. Walter Deane and it was seen to eat 

 barberries on several occasions. 



The winter last mentioned will long be remembered for its deep snows and 

 protracted periods of intense cold. Indeed no winter equalling it in general 

 severity has come and gone within my recollection. Yet in addition to the Her- 

 mit which was seen in our garden no less than four Thrushes of the same species 

 were noted elsewhere in the immediate neighborhood of Boston during the same 

 period. Why so many of them should have attempted to remain here through 

 such a terrible season is perhaps not more remarkable and mysterious than is 

 the extreme scarcity of birds of almost every kind which is. so often character- 

 istic, at least in eastern Massachusetts, of exceptionally mild winters — like the 

 one (that of 1905-1906) just ended, for e.xample. 



