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Bird -Lore 



young on Long Key. The faintly mottled white color of the eggs and 

 young affords a perfect example of protective coloration. 



These birds breed about the end of July. One cannot get close 

 enough to them to ascertain if the eggs are brooded, or for how long. 



This year a special warden will be detailed, as the result of Mr. 

 Dutcher's kindly interest, and probably for the first time in their known 

 history these breeding grounds will have the care and protection which 

 all fair-minded people should extend toward our friends, the birds. 



A Hermit Thrush Song 



BY THEODORE CLARKE SMITH 



(Reprinted, by permission, from The Ohio Naturalist for February, igo?.) 



DURING the summer of 1902 I stayed from June 24 to July 30 

 at a camp on the shore of Lake Memphremagog. My tent was 

 placed at the edge of a cedar and hemlock grove, mixed with 

 occasional maples and birches which furnished nesting places for a great 

 variety of birds. The most conspicuous singer was a Hermit Thrush 

 whose nest was not far from the tent, and whose song was heard every 

 morning and evening, and frequently during the day, for over a month. 

 Others of his kind were also audible, sometimes close at hand, but none 

 became so thoroughly familiar as this " Camp Thrush." I have heard him 

 at extremely close range, — on one occasion from less than ten feet, — and 

 have also been able to distinguish his song, over the lake, from a distance 

 of fully three-quarters of a mile. From an abundance of material the fol- 

 lowing notes are contributed in the efifort to analyze his vocal performance. 



In form the song of this Thrush was very dis- 

 tinct, clear-cut and regular. His typical phrase was 

 as here shown. This same form was repeated by 

 the bird in higher keys, usually somewhat simplified 

 by the omission of one or more of the latter notes 

 until, at the top of the bird's register, it became reduced to little more 

 than the following. The closer one approached the Thrush the greater 

 appeared the regularity, as long, that 

 is, as the bird was in full song; for 

 when beginning or when singing softly 

 he departed noticeably from his ordi- 

 nary practice. 



On several occasions the bird sang 

 near the camp cabin, in which there 

 was a piano, and it was a simple matter, owing to the regularity of the 

 song, to determine the pitch with considerable accuracy. With regard to 



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