436 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



two feet from the ground. The eggs are described by Mr. Comstock 

 as being a little lighter than a Robin's, and all one color. * The sizes 

 of these two specimens are 21 x 16 mm., 21.5 x 16.5 mm. f 



7590. Turdus aonalaschkae auduboni (BAIRD.) [50.] 



Auduboii's Hermit Thrash. 



Hab. Rocky Mountain region of the United States, south to Northern Central America. 



Known as the Rocky Mountain Hermit Thrush from the region 

 which it inhabits. In some parts of Colorado it is very common. Mr. 

 Frank M. Drew states that it is common and breeds in San Juan coun- 

 ty, Colorado. Its clear, sweet notes can be heard from nearly every 

 dark glen or secluded part of the woods. A nest was found in the lat- 

 ter part of June, placed in a spruce bush, about three feet from the 

 ground. It contained three eggs. Mr. Chas. F. Morrison records this 

 bird as tolerably common in L,a Plata county, Colorado. The nest he 

 says is generally, if not always, placed in bushes where the under- 

 growth is thick and heavy. The bird prefers hillsides near sluggish 

 water, as old beaver dams and swamps, nesting in their vicinity, and 

 breeding before the last of May or first of June, and later at a higher 

 altitude. The nest is composed of twigs, straws, rootlets, coarse grass 

 and moss ; it is often compact, with thick walls. The average diame- 

 ter is about five inches, with a cavity two and a half by two deep. The 

 eggs are usually four, and of a plain greenish-blue. A set of four in 

 my cabinet, taken at Canon City, Colorado, July 4, 1885, offers the fol- 

 lowing sizes : .85 x .65, .84 x .66, .88 x .66, .86 x .64. 



. Turdus aonalaschkae pallasii (CAB.) 



Hermit Thrash. 



Hab. Eastern North America, breeding from the Northern United States northward, wintering from 

 about latitude 40 to the Gulf coast. 



The Hermit Thrush or " Ground Swamp Robin," breeds from the 

 Northern United States northward. It is common in the northern 

 portions of New England in summer, and in Maine, where it is abund- 

 ant, it begins to breed during the last week of May. It is common in 

 Nova Scotia and in New Brunswick, and begins to build about the 

 middle of May. Dr. Frank W. L,angdon states on the authority of 

 Mr. Chas. Dury, that the nest and eggs of the Hermit Thrush have 

 been taken near Cincinnati, Ohio, May 10, 1877. The bird probably 

 breeds in Northern Ohio and other parts of the State. It has been ob- 

 served nesting in Michigan, a nest being recorded by Dr. Morris Gibbs 

 as taken by W. A. Gunn in Montclam county, May 15, 1879. 



Nuttall says that the song of the Hermit Thrush " seems to be un- 



* Young Oologist, I, p. 149. 

 t .63 x .63, .85 x .65 inches. 



