NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. SOI 



successive years found nests and eggs of the Olive-backed Thrush at Gaines, Orleans 

 county, New York, within a short distance of his residence. Dr. Morris Gibbs has 

 taken its nests and eggs in Kalamazoo county, Michigan. It may be found breeding 

 in Northern Ohio. This species, like the Hermit Thrush, frequents retired wood- 

 land, but its mode of nesting (except the structure of the nest), as well as its eggs, 

 are quite different. The nest is built in a bush or small forest tree, a few feet from 

 the ground — usually from five to eight feet. It is composed of a mass of leaves, twigs, 

 shreds of bark, and, in the Arctic regions, moss is one of the principal substances 

 which enter into its composition. The nests average about four inches in diameter 

 by two in height, the cavity being three wide by one and a half deep. The eggs are 

 usually deposited in the first part of June, these being three or four in number, of 

 greenish-blue (some much fuller than others),- speckled with reddish-brown and other 

 tints. Their average size is .92x.66. 



759. DWARF HERMIT THRUSH. Turdus aonalaschkce Gmel. Geog. Dist.— 

 Pacific coast region, breeding from California northward; south in winter to Lower 

 California and Western Mexico; during the migrations east to Nevada and Arizona. 



The Dwarf Hermit Thrush breeds from the mountains of California northward 

 as far as Kadiak. Very few of the eggs of this species appear in the numerous col- 

 lections, and from the meagre accounts we have concerning them, they must be con- 

 sidered rare. Mr. Chas. N. Comstock, of Oakland, California, found a nest of this 

 species containing two eggs, in June, 1883, while on a collecting trip to the Calaveras 

 group of big trees. The nest was placed in a bush about two feet from the ground. 

 The eggs are described by Mr. Comstock as being a littlB lighter than a Robin's, and 

 all one color.* The sizes of these two specimens are 21x16 mm., 21.5xl6.S mm.f 



759o. AUDtTBON'S HERMIT THRUSH.' Turdus aonalaschkw auduboni 

 (Baird.) Geog. Dist. — Rocky Mountain region of the United States, south to North- 

 ern Central America. 



Known as the Rocky Mountain Hermit Thrush from the region which it inhabits. 

 In some parts of Colorado it is very common. Mr. Frank M. Drew states that it is 

 common and breeds in San Juan county, Colorado. Its clear, sweet notes can he 

 heard from nearly every dark glen or secluded part of the woods. A nest was found 

 in the latter part of June, placed in a spruce bush, about three feet from the ground. 

 It contained three eggs. Mr. Chas. F. Morrison records this bird as tolerably common 

 in La Plata county, Colorado. The nest he says is generally, if not always, placed 

 in bushes where the undergrowth is thick and heavy. The bird prefers hillsides 

 near sluggish water, as old beaver dams and swamps, nesting in their vicinity, and 

 breeding before the last of May or first of June, and later at a higher altitude. 

 The nest is composed of twigs, straws, rootlets, coarse grass and moss; it is often 

 compact, with thick walls. The average diameter is about five inches, with a 

 cavity two and a half by two deep. The eggs are usually four, and of a plain 

 greenish-blue. A set of four in my cabinet, taken at Canon City, Colorado, July 4, 

 1885, offers the following sizes: .85x.65, .84x.66, .S8x.66, .86x.64. 



7596. HERMIT THRUSH. Turdus aonalaschkw pallasii (Cab.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Eastern North America, breeding from the Northern United States northward, winter- 

 ing from about latitude 40° to the Gulf coast. 



* Young Oologist, I, p. 149. 

 t .83X.63, .85X.65 inches. 



