718 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
or gardens, it does no damage to the horticulturist, but on the other hand 
renders little service to him except during its transient visits on the trip 
north or south. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult: Entire upper parts, including wings and tail, rather dark olive; lores and ring 
around the eye buff; throat and breast tinged with buff; sides of throat with wedge-shaped 
black spots, the breast with rounded black spots; middle of the belly white; sides brownish- 
gray or brownish-ashy. Sexes alike in size and color. 
Length, 6.50 to 7.50 inches; wing 3.75 to 4; tail about 3. 
323. Hermit Thrush. Hylocichla guttata pallasi (Cab.). (759b) 
Synonyms: Rufous-tailed Thrush, Solitary Thrush, Swamp Robin.—Turdus pallasii, 
Cabanis, 1847, Baird, 1858, Allen, 1871, B. B. & R., 1874.—Turdus solitarius, Wils., 1812, 
Aud., 1839, and others.—Turdus minor, Vieill., 1807.—Turdus nanus, Aud., 1839 (part). 
—Hylocichla guttata pallasii, Howe, 1901.—Turdus aonalaschk:e pallasii, A. O. U. Check- 
list, ISS6, 
Plate LXX and Figures 151, 152. 
Similar to the Olive-back and Gray-cheeked Thrushes, but the upper 
parts not uniform olive, except on head and back, the rump and tail being 
deep reddish-brown. The breast also is more heavily spotted than in 
any of the other thrushes except the Wood Thrush. 
Distribution.—Eastern North America, breeding from the northern 
Alleghanies, the mountainous parts of southern New England, southern 
New York, northern Michigan, etc., northward, and wintering from the 
northern states southward. 
The Hermit Thrush is by far the most abundant of the small thrushes 
during migration, sometimes appearing in great numbers and always to 
be found commonly in early spring, and 
again in the fall. It is the earliest of the —— 
small thrushes to arrive from the south, “7 “== a 
usually appearing during the first or second ——— 
week in April, almost always before the Fig. 151. Wing-tip of Hermit Thrush, 
middle of that month in the southern part Coase en SE 
of the state. Mr. Trombley’s dates at 
Petersburgh, Monroe county, range from April 7, 1893 to April 18, 1886, 
the average being about April 10. At Ann Arbor Mr. Wood’s earliest 
record in twenty-five years is April 2, 1904, the average being the second 
week of April. At Bay City and at Grand Rapids the species arrives at 
about the same time, April 7 to April 15, and even at Palmer, Marquette 
county, it was recorded by Mr. O. B. Warren April 10, 1893 and April 
29, 1895. Specimens were killed on Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, 
May 5, 1889 and June 1, 1892, and a single one October 3, 1893. One 
was killed on Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, May 18, 1891. The south- 
ward movement in autumn doubtless begins in September, but is most 
marked during October, and the last do not leave the state until the first 
of November or even later. 
Although an abundant migrant throughout the entire state it does not 
nest in the southern counties nor, with rare exceptions, in any counties 
south of the Saginaw-Grand Valley. There are several reports of nests 
found in the southern part of the state, but in most cases these doubtless 
were nests of the Veery. Dr. Gibbs and Mr. WA. Gunn secured a nest 
