THE HERMIT THRUSH. 



{Turdus aonalaschkcE pallasii.^ 



Among the perching birds, no family 

 is better known or more thought of than 

 that of the thrushes. With their bright 

 colors, sprightly manners and cheerful 

 song they are among the most welcome 

 of the avian harbingers of spring. One 

 of the most interesting species of this 

 family is the Hermit Thrush. Its song 

 is wonderfully sweet and seems to hold 

 one in a strange fascination. Reverend 

 J. H. Langille, in his charming little vol- 

 ume, "Our Birds in Their Haunts," thus 

 describes the effect of the song of the 

 Hermit Thrush upon him: 



"The song begins with a note not un- 

 like the vowel O, passing through sev- 

 eral intervals of the musical scale in a 

 smooth, upward slide, and in a tone of 

 indescribable melodiousness, and contin- 

 ues in a shake which gradually softens 

 into silence, thus giving a most pleasing 

 diminuendo. Put into syllables it is well 

 represented by Mr. Burrough's phrase, 

 'O-o-o-o, holy-holy-holy holy'; and I 

 sometimes thought I heard it say, O-o-o- 

 o, seraph, seraph, seraph, seraph. Again 

 I could discover no suggestion of articu- 

 late language, but only that soul-lan- 

 guage of pure melody, which speaks di- 

 rectly to the heart without the ruder in- 

 cumbrance of speech. With short paus- 

 es, this dinunuendo is repeated any num- 

 ber of times, but always on a different 

 key and with a different modulation. 

 Now it is on the main chords, now on 

 the intermediates, and now on the most 

 delicately chosen and inspiring chromat- 

 ics. When pitched high, the shake is 

 through a shorter interval, and in a 

 weaker tone. The lower-toned modula- 

 tions are always the sweetest. Some- 

 times the tones are so soft as to sound 

 far away, though the bird is quite near; 

 and again the notes are very penetrating, 

 and may be heard for quite a distance, 

 especially when aided by the enchanting 

 echoes of tall, dense forests. The tone 

 of the melody is neither of flute, nor 



hautboy nor vox-humana, but something 

 of inimitable sweetness, and never heard 

 away from the fragrant arcades of the 

 forest. 'Spiritual serenity,' or a refined, 

 poetic, religious devotion, is indeed the 

 sentiment of the song. He whose trou- 

 bled spirit cannot be soothed or comfort- 

 ed, or whose religious feelings cannot be 

 awakened by this song, in twilight, must 

 lack the full sense of hearing, or that 

 inner sense of the soul which catches 

 nature's most significant voices." 



Like the other members of the thrush 

 family the Hermit Thrush may be seen 

 during its migration on the ground 

 searching for food. When disturbed 

 it flies into a nearby tree and perches 

 on a limb not far from the ground 

 where it quietly and fearlessly eyes 

 the intruder. If not molested it 

 will again fly to the ground and 

 continue its search for food, running 

 about with a quick, graceful motion not 

 unlike that of the robin. The favorite 

 haunts of this Thrush are in the open 

 woodlands, near the banks of streams 

 and among the bushes which afford a 

 ready and a safe retreat. 



The food of the Hermit Thrush con- 

 sists of ants, beetles, caterpillars and 

 grasshoppers. In Bulletin Number 3, of 

 the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural 

 History, Professor S. A. Forbes records 

 the following data: Eighty-four per 

 cent of the food is insects, four per cent 

 spiders and twelve per cent thousand- 

 legs. The insect food was made up as 

 follows : Ants, fifteen per cent ; butter- 

 flies and caterpillars, nineteen per cent; 

 beetles, thirty per cent; hemiptera or 

 bugs, eight per cent ; grasshoppers, eight 

 per cent. From these data it will be seen 

 that the Hermit Thrush is a very valua- 

 ble bird and should be rigorously protect- 

 ed by farmers and agriculturists. 



The Hermit Thrush winters in the 

 South and arrives in the latitude of Chi- 

 cago about the first week in April, and in 



