THE YOUNG ORNITHOLOGIST. 



For "■The Young Ornithologist." 



THE HERMIT AND TAWNY 

 THRUSHES. 



{Hylociclila unalascm pallasi, and 

 Hylocichla fuscencens.) 



By Wm. L. Kells, Listowel, Ont. 



In its general appearance and hab- 

 its, the Hermit differs little from its 

 congener the Wood Thrush. The 

 plumage on the upper parts, and 

 markings on the lower, are similar, 

 and its common notes have much the 

 same sound ; but in size it is consid- 

 erably less, and while the Wood 

 Thrush delights to dwell in high-rol- 

 ling hard- wood timbered lands, and 

 pour forth its charming music, and 

 construct its nest amid the gloomy 

 shade of thick, leafy underwood, the 

 Hermit prefers low, swampy wood, 

 lands for its summer home, though it 

 equally loves the shade and shelter 

 of low underwood, where it mingles 

 its pleasing, but somewhat melancholy 

 song-notes with the various warblers 

 that also choose such places for their 

 summer homes. The song-notes of 

 Hermit Thrush seem to be an at- 

 tempt to imitate, in some repects, 

 those of the wood species, and like 

 those of that charming songster, 

 are generally repeated in the calm 

 still evening hours, when the heat 

 of the summer day is over, and the 

 glare of the sunlight is gradually 

 giving place to the gloomy twilight 

 that heralds the approach of night, 

 and when then heard, oft repeating 

 and answered by others of its spe- 

 cies in the low, deep, sombre wild- 

 woods, it seems at such times and in 

 such places to impress the seriously 

 minded with melancholy thouglits. 



paralleled only by the ditty of the 

 Wood Pewee, and the nocturnal lay 

 of the Whip-poor-Will. This species 

 is a neat, modest and retired bird, 

 and when startled by the appi'oach of 

 man retreats at once into the deepest 

 concealment ; and though she gener- 

 ally sits close, yet when flushed from 

 her nest, usually retreats to a safe 

 distance among the deep foliage of 

 the surrounding underwood : but when 

 the young are in the nest her solici- 

 tude is keen, and should one of the 

 brood give a note of alarm, both birds 

 at once fly toward, and flutter around 

 the intruder, and uttering notes of 

 the wildest distress, try by all their 

 arts to defend their young. 



The nest of this species is usually 

 placed in a low bush, in the root of a 

 fallen tree, or on some fallen brush- 

 wood near the ground, often near 

 water, and generally where there is a 

 thick shade overhead. It is composed 

 of dry stalks of Aveeds, dead leaves, 

 cemented with a little mud or rotten 

 wood, and lined with rootlets and fine 

 grass. The general set of eggs 

 is four, which are of a blue-green 

 hue ; incubation lasts fourteen days, 

 and if their first efliorts are success- 

 ful, it does not appear to nest more 

 than once in the season. I have 

 never seen the eggs after June, and 

 seldom before the advent of that 

 month. If the weather is favorable, 

 this bird generally arrives in this lo- 

 cality about the first week in ]\Iay. 

 and its song-notes cease in July. 



Thk Tawx^ TiiiasH. 

 This species, called also Wilson's 

 Thrush and the Veree. occupies nuich 

 the same localities as the Wood and 



