JAN 29 1897 
THE AUK: 
AOC CAGR Th BR IE Yo, OoU RON A) “© F 
ORNITHOLOGY. 
VOL. XIV. JANUARY, 1897. NOs 1. 
NOTES ON “A CAPTIVE” HERMIN THRUSH. 
BY DANIEL E. OWEN. 
JUNE 26, 1896, while exploring a small patch of mixed growth 
in search of birds, I fell in with a young Hermit Thrush, accom- 
panied by its parents. The young bird was just from the nest 
and had such ill control of its faculties and muscles that, ulti- 
mately, after a laborious flight of seven or eight yards, it alighted 
at my very feet. I captured the youngster, by dropping my 
hat over it, and having tied the bird, loosely, in my handker- 
chief, carried it home in my collecting basket. For the next five 
weeks, the Thrush was my constant study companion, and during 
this period discovered so many attractive traits that when I came 
to restore my captive to its native wood, the parting was, to one . 
of us, the occasion of real regret. 
I domiciled my little orphan in a large, old-fashioned canary 
cage which was allowed to stand, most of the time, on the sill of 
an open window. At first the Thrush objected to this durance 
vile, expressing its distaste by ejaculatory ‘peeps’ which, June 
28, attracted to the roof, near the window, a sympathetic Chipping 
Sparrow, and caused a Robin in a: neighboring tree to sound 
a loquacious and protracted alarm. But the imprisoned bird 
