° 'l910 J McClintock, a Hermit Thrush Study. 413 



it could secure the excrement. Twice this lodged on the nest rim 

 and once it dropped back into the nest. On the three occasions 

 mentioned, each excrement was immediately removed upon the 

 parent's succeeding visit. 



Up to about noon on August 3, the excrements were, with one 

 exception on August 2, swallowed by the parents; after this date, 

 however, they were invariably carried away between the mandibles. 



While the young lived within the nest, I observed that the ex- 

 crement was enclosed within a gelatinous sac. I subsequently 

 learned, upon the day after the young left the nest when one of 

 the little birds voided its excrement in my presence, that the 

 excrement lacked the gelatinous sac. 



Call Notes. 



A very interesting and instructive part of my experience with 

 this thrush family was what I heard and learned relative to the 

 birds' call notes, of which I distinguished five distinct kinds, in 

 addition to the song of the male. 



The first of these was the well known quirk or quoit, which is 

 familiar to all acquainted with this species. This note was seem- 

 ingly employed as a mild form of protest and was uttered when 

 the birds were slightly suspicious or when they mildly protested 

 against the presence of an intruder. A second note was a high 

 pitched, thin and wiry call that was a counterpart of the Cedar- 

 bird note. It was also I think, judging from memory, even more 

 like a similar note that is much used by the Robin. This latter 

 comparison is of special interest owing to the ancestral relationship 

 existing between thrushes and robins. 



I was one day fortunate in hearing a Cedar-bird and one of the 

 parent Hermits give these similar notes at the same time and 

 within a few^ feet of each other. The Hermits' note, although 

 of the same quality as that of the Cedar-bird was pitched several 

 tones higher than that of the latter. The Hermits used this thin 

 wiry note as a warning to the young of approaching danger. To 

 the little birds this call meant "freeze." On the last day of my 

 observations, I had two good opportunities of witnessing the use 

 of the call note in question. On one occasion both parents were 



