i 7 8



Mr. Hubert D. Astley,



Dr. Elliott Coues, in the “ Birds of the Colorado Valley,”

writes:—“ Great injustice would be done were the Hermit’s

“ musical powers overlooked in any sketch, however slight, of its

“ life history. The earlier authors were evidently unaware of

“ its accomplishments, for its melody is lavished on the gloom

“ of the swamp, or lost in the darkening aisles of the forest,

“ where years passed by before the ear of the patient and toiling

“student of nature was gladdened by the sweet refrain.


“Wilson denies its song; Audobon speaks of ‘ its single

“ plaintive note.’ ”


“ Nuttall seems to have first recognised the power and

“ sweetness of the lay of our Hermit: he compares it to the famous

“ Nightingale, that sweet princess of song, and ranks it far above

“ the Wood Thrush. Later writers agree in this high estimate of


“ the bird’s powers.The weird associations of the spot


“ where the Hermit triumphs, the mystery inseparable from the

“ voice of the unseen musician, conspire to heighten the effect of

“ the sweet, silvery, bell-like notes, which, beginning soft, low,

“ and tinkling, rise higher and higher, to end abruptly with a clear,

“ ringing intonation.”


In another place the same author writes :—“ How quietly

“ and with what solicitude for privacy the nesting of the Hermit

“ Thrush is accomplished! Such care is taken to conceal its

“ nest in the recesses of tangled uudergrowth, that few are the


“ Ornithologists who have found it.The manner


“ in which the nest of the Hermit Thrush is built, its situation,

“ and the eggs are all so similar to the Veery’s, (Wilson’s

“ Thrush) that one must detect the shy parents themselves before

“ being sure which has been found. The nest is built on

“ the ground or near it, generally in some secluded low spot ;

“ no mud is used in its composition, the whole fabric being a rude

“ and inartistic matting of withered leaves, weed stalks, bark

“ strips, and grasses—the coarser and stiffer substances outside,

“ the finer fabrics within. The cup is small in comparison with

“ the whole size, owing to the thickness of the walls and of the

“ base. The eggs are like those of the Robin ( T. migraiorius ) or

“ Wood Thrush in their uniform greenish-blue colour, but

“ smaller, measuring about nine-tenths of an inch in length, by



