io8 Bird - Lore 



these birds breed at sea-level, and they have clung to their favorite haunts, the 

 spruce forest, wherever it has been spared by the lumberman and the farmer. 

 So it is that they occur along the higher Alleghanies as far south as Penn- 

 sylvania, in the southern Rocky Mountains at about 8,000 feet altitude and 

 in the Sierras and ranges of Nevada at varying altitudes. When the vast 

 breeding range of the birds is considered, it is really remarkable that they 

 vary so little in plumage and practically not at all in size. For the winter 

 they betake themselves to Cuba and Costa Rica, sometimes reaching 

 Ecuador or Peru. 



In the Hylocichla guttata group of Hermit Thrushes there is a beautiful 

 tangle of names and races, chiefly the result of mistaken zeal on the part of 

 expert ornithologists. Suffice it to say, that Gmelin's old name aonalaschkce 

 has been thrown over because his description is vague and because no 

 Hylocichla has ever been or is likely to be taken on Unalaska Island. The 

 next available name is guttata. 



The range of the Hermit Thrush coincides very closely with that of the 

 Olive -back, although the species is slightly more southern in distribution 

 except in winter, when it does not entirely desert the lower border of the 

 United States. It dwells in the same coniferous forests, with perhaps a 

 preference for the deciduous bits scattered through it, and its song is often 

 blended with that of the other species. It is more sluggish in its movements 

 than the Olive-back, and even its song moves slowly. Nevertheless, the 

 Hermit Thrush bears the palm as the most gifted songster of North America, % 

 and his sweet, measured notes poured forth in many stanzas of different keys 

 have been the theme of poetic writers. 



The Hermit is less tidy in appearance than the Olive-back and, perhaps 

 because of his more terrestrial habits, becomes more frayed and worn in 

 plumage. This may be one reason why so many subspecies have been 

 described, and varying size is another, but in my opinion, when we have 

 accepted four races, we have about reached the limits of recognizable 

 variation. We should have, then, pallasi, the eastern race; nana, the smaller, 

 deeper colored Pacific coast race, and guttata, the gray Alaska- Rocky 

 Mountain connecting link just as in the Olive-backed Thrush; then we 

 should also have auduboni, a large race at the southern extremity of the 

 Rockies, which has no counterpart in the Olive-backs, because they show 

 no variation in size. As for slevini of California, if oedica is a summer 

 fading, then slevini falls into the same category; sequoiensis of the Sierras 

 fills an inappreciable gap between guttata and auduboni, and verecunda of 

 Queen Charlotte Islands is, of course, merely the mainland bird nana. 

 These conclusions may not meet with general favor, as they are not in 

 complete accord with commonly accepted ideas, although I find them in 

 accord with the facts derived from personal examination of a large number 

 of specimens. I am satisfied that the recognition of more races will simply 



