56 TURDID^E : THRUSHES. 



[Obs. The proper name of this species is much in question, and 

 not easy to determine. The earliest designation of any Amer- 

 ican " Hermit " Thrush appears to be Turdus aonalaschkae, 

 Gm., Syst. Nat, 1788, p. 808, from the island of Unalashka. Sup- 

 posing this to have actual reference to the Western variety called 

 Turdus namis by Baird in 1858, and by most subsequent writers, 

 and remembering that Tiirdus nanus of Audubon was based 

 upon a specimen from Pennsylvania, though also extended to 

 include the Western form, it would appear that by strict con- 

 struction of the rules of nomenclature the Eastern Hermit Thrush 

 should be called Turdus aonalaschk<zv&x. nanus. On this point, 

 see Coues, Birds Col. Valley, 1878, p. 20 ; Ridgw.^ Proc. Nat. 

 Mus., ii, 1880, p. i. C.] 



The Hermit Thrush is another bird whose breeding 

 range draws a line between the two principal Faunas 

 of New England, being restricted in the breeding sea- 

 son to the Canadian Fauna, as the Wood Thrush is 

 to the Alleghanian. It hence inhabits northern New 

 England and the higher parts of Massachusetts in the 

 summer, but is only a migrant in spring and fall in 

 other portions of the country. At these seasons, and 

 particularly in the autumn, it is very common in south- 

 ern New England. It reaches Connecticut early in 

 April, and spreads northward during that month. The 

 return movement from its breeding grounds begins in 

 September, but is protracted through the greater part 

 of November ; and, not impossibly, a few stragglers 

 may linger in winter in the Connecticut valley. During 

 the breeding season it is a shy, solitary bird, inhab- 

 iting chiefly low, dense woods ; but it is more gen- 

 erally distributed, and oftener seen, during the migra- 

 tions. The nest is built on the ground or very near it, 

 in some low, secluded spot, generally in dense shrub- 

 bery ; no mud is used in its composition, the structure 

 being a rather bulky mass of leaves, weeds, bark, and 



