4 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 



wings and many others find suitable sites for homes and the 

 rearing of their young. The hermit thrush is one of the com- 

 moner summer birds of the region and several nests were dis- 

 covered during the course of the eight weeks' summer session 

 beginning June 30. 



Although numerous papers have been written concerning 

 the nesting behavior of the hermit thush, the observations made 

 by Norman McClintock^ in the Huron Mountains forty miles 

 northwest of Marquette, Michigan, are the most complete and 

 detailed of any that the writer has seen. However, the obser- 

 vations herein recorded are, in some respects, somwhat at var- 

 iance with those of McClintock and additional data are also 

 included in this paper. 



The particular nest here discussed was accidentally discov- 

 ered on July 5 by one of the members of the ornithology class 

 but it was not under more than casual observation until July 

 25 when a blind was first put into position for the observers. 

 The nest itself was built on the ground in a partly shaded area 

 about twenty yards from the lake shore and the same distance 

 from the mess tent which was visited three times a day by 

 thirty-nine people. It was partially hidden among the blue- 

 berry bushes and brake fern and was composed almost entirely 

 of pine needles with a few dead twigs at the top and on the out- 

 aide for support. 



The observation blind of faded, olive-green canvas was erected 

 on two T-poles. It was about forty inches in height by twenty 

 inches in width by thirty-eight inches in length and was placed 

 thirty inches from the nest. Observation of the birds and nest 

 was made possible through a slit about six inches long in the 

 canvas and through a round hole two inches in diameter. En- 

 trance to the blind was gained on the side away from the nest 

 and it v/as left in position continuously from the time it was 

 erected until August 8, when the birds left their home. During 

 the process of setting up the blind the female hermit thrush flew 

 away thus exposing the five eggs; as soon as the canvas was in 

 place the observer left. The next morning the writer visited the 

 lilind but remained only long enough to make sure that the 

 female was incubating. During the following night a heavy 



1 McClintock, Norman. A Hermit Thrush Study, Arilc. XXVH, 1910. 409-413. 



