32 LAND-BIRDS. 



During their sojourn here in autumn, they frequent the ground 

 much less than in spring, and feed largely on various kinds of 

 berries, many of which they find in swamps. * 



These birds are to be associated with October, when the 

 roads, hardened by frost, are neither muddy nor dusty, when 

 the paths through the woods are strewn with the soft fallen 

 leaves, which rustle pleasantly beneath one's feet, when the 

 clear, cold, exhilarating weather is well adapted to exercise, 

 when the maples are in the utmost splendor of their brilliant 

 coloring, and finally when the hills, covered with the oaks of 

 low growth, where once forests stood, glow with the rich crim- 

 son, which at last becomes a dull brown, showing winter to be 

 near at hand. 



d. The Hermit Thrushes very rarely sing except in the 

 summer season, and generally, while with us, their only notes 

 are a mellow chirp, a loud chuck, rarely uttered (especially in 

 spring?), and a single low whistle, which seems to come from 

 a more distant point than that which the bird occupies. When 

 frightened from their nests they often utter a very character- 

 istic dissyllabic note, expressive of their sorrow. Their song 

 is strikingly fine, and recalls the melody of the Wood Thrush 

 to one familiar with that melody, though lacking the power 

 and full music of the latter, being, as Mr. Burroughs has said, 

 silvery rather than golden. It usually begins with a few low, 

 rich notes, followed by higher ones. 



Though the Hermit Thrushes bear a strong general resem- 

 blance to the two other "Wood Thrushes," whom -an inex- 

 perienced observer is likely to see in any part of this State 

 (A and .Z?), yet they are rarely seen in the company of those 

 birds, preceding them in the spring migrations, and returning 

 to the South later. They sometimes are found during their 

 annual journeys in company with the Gray-cheeked or Swain- 

 son's Thrush, but the former is rare, and seldom has any red- 

 dish brown tinting on the upper parts, and the latter has both 



* The Hermit Thrushes are said through southern New England than 



occasionally to catch flies in the man- I have indicated in my biography of 



ner of Swainson's Thrushes, who per- those birds. [Appendix to first edition, 



haps are more common migrants p. 443.] 



