RARER BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 573 



shot near Boston (at Ipswich) in December, 1864. This 

 seems to be the first known instance, as the specimen men- 

 tioned by Prof. Baird as having been obtained here was 

 killed in New Jersey.* 



KOBIN. Turdus migratorius Linn. Generally this well 

 known bird is not met with in Massachusetts in winter except 

 at particular localities ; it seems more frequently to occur at 

 this season in the eastern part of the state than elsewhere. 

 It is not seen every winter, but sometimes occurs in consid- 

 erable abundance. In the severe winter of 1867-'68, they 

 were seen in Cambridge at intervals all winter ; they were 

 more numerous in January than in December, and were still 

 more abundant in February, when they appeared in quite 

 large flocks. They disappeared on the approach of warm 

 weather, leaving for the north or for the interior before the 

 arrival of their brothers from the south, which this year first 

 appeared about March 10th. It does not seem to be an un- 

 usual mildness of the season that causes them to linger, as 

 they are as often seen during the severer Avinters as in the 

 milder. 



HERMIT THRUSH. Turdus Pallasi Cab. Although the 

 southern limit of this species in the breeding season is nearly 

 coincident with the southern boundary of the Canadian 

 fauna, f straggling pairs breed in various parts of Massachu- 

 setts. It has been taken at Springfield in June,^ and last 

 year I saw young just able to fly at Hyannis, July 3d. Dr. 

 Brewer informs me he found it breeding in Roxlmiy, in 

 1837. In the more elevated western districts of the state, 

 as in the elevated and northern parts of New England gen- 

 erall}', it breeds regularly and in large numbers. 



OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. Turdus iSivainsonii Cab. As is 

 well known, this is not a rare species in this state. 



* See my " Catalogue," 1. c., p. 82. 



fin respect to the boundaries of the Canadian and Alleghanian Faunae, see Prof. 

 Verrill's remarks in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History (Vol. x, 

 p. 280) and my own in the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. i, pt 

 iv, p. 483. 



J See "Addenda" to my " Catalogue," 1. c., p. 97. 



