150 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



are always blue in color, and he has never met with one 

 that was spotted in any manner. I have quite a number 

 of specimens in my collection, and not one is spotted. I 

 have also seen many others, and they were not marked ; and 

 I think that the above quotation must be received with cau- 

 tion. A nest sent me from Upton, Me., is composed almost 

 entirely of mosses. It contains five eggs, all unspotted. 



Mr. Paine writes me that the Olive-backed Thrush breeds 

 in his neighborhood, which, with the other, are the only 

 thrushes breeding there. In answer to his remark that 

 the Hermit Thrush always builds on the ground, I can only 

 say that I found the nests as above. I have noticed that 

 the Tawny or Wilson's Thrush builds on the ground in 

 some localities and in bushes in others, and conclude that 

 the Hermit is also variable in its choice of a nesting-place. 



The habits, song, and general characteristics of this bird 

 are almost exactly similar to those of the Song Thrush. 

 Its song resembles it so much, that I always supposed the 

 bird was the same, until I examined some of them that I 

 heard singing, when I found my mistake. About the 

 middle of October, the last individuals that are seen in 

 Massachusetts leave for the South. At this time, as in the 

 spring, they are silent and shy : their note is a faint chirp, 

 uttered in a listless, melancholy tone ; and their whole 

 appearance is in keeping with the great change which has 

 come over the face of Nature. In fact, the Hermit Thrush 

 is always associated in my mind with the falling of leaves, 

 the rattling of acorns, and the whirring of the Ruffed 

 Grouse through the birches and alders of the swampy 

 glens. f 



TURDUS FTJSCESCENS. Stephens. 

 The Tawny Thrush ; Wilson's Thrush. 



Turdus fuscescens, Stephens. Shaw's Zool. Birds, X. (1817) 182. Gray, Genera 

 (1849). 



Turdiu mustelinus, Wilson. Am. Orn., V. (1812) 98 (not of Gm.). 



Turdus Wilsonii, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 349. Aud. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 362 { 

 V. 446. /&., Birds Am., III. (1841) 27, pi. 145. 



