526 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



than those expressed by Hoffman. In purity and sweetness they seemed 



practically to rival the Hermit thrush which was singing in the same locality 



at the same time, though decidedly different in character. 



The nest of the Olive-back is placed in low balsams, spruces or beeches 



from 4 to 15 feet from the ground. It is composed mostly of mosses, 



dead leaves and plant stems, lined with dark rootlets. The eggs are 



greenish blue, spotted with reddish brown, 3 or 4 in number, and average 



.90 by .64 inches in dimensions. The nesting season varies from June 5 



to July 20. 



Hylocichla guttata pallasi (Cabanis) 



Hermit Thrush 



Plate 105 



Turdus pallasii Cabanis. Archiv fur Naturg. 1847. p. 205 

 Merula solitaria DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 72, fig. 80 

 Hylocichla guttata pallasi A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 362. 

 No. 759b 



guttata, Lat., spotted; pallasi, dedicated to the famous Russian naturalist 



Description. Upper parts olive brown, but browner than the Olive- 

 backed thrush; rump and tail rufous; under parts whitish, washed with 

 brownish olive on the flanks; spotted on the breast with black rather more 

 heavily than in the case of the Olive-backed and Gray-cheeked thrushes. 



Length 7-7.25 inches; extent 11-12; wing 3.52-3.75; tail 2.74-2.85; 

 bill .53; tarsus 1.2. 



Young, as in the case of the other members of the genus, are spotted 

 above with ocherous and dusky. 



Distribution. The Hermit thrush breeds in the Canadian and Tran- 

 sition zones of eastern North America from southern Yukon, southwestern 

 Keewatin and northern Quebec south to central Alberta, central Minnesota, 

 northern Michigan, Ontario, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut 

 and in the mountains of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Winters from 

 Massachusetts, southeastern New York and the Ohio valley to Texas, 

 Florida and Cuba. In New York it is a summer resident of all the Canadian 

 zone of the Catskills and Adirondacks and of the colder portions of the 

 Transition zone near the Pennsylvania border as well as in the colder 

 swamps, gullies and hill slopes of eastern, central and western New York. 



