The Hermit Thrushes 
running parallel to the study, and some five feet away from it. I was 
startled by the sudden apparition of the white-breasted bird, streaked 
though he was with gentle russets. The bird could not see me through 
the screen, so his movements were perfectly natural and ordinary. More¬ 
over, in the minute which I record, nothing remarkable nor in any way 
extraordinary occurred. It was only an average minute. Full forty 
seconds of the time was spent at rest, as much as the Hermit Thrush ever 
does rest, viz., standing and gazing about alertly, but fearlessly and com¬ 
posedly, and punctuating its thoughts momentarily by the wing-twinkle, 
which is so rapid that the eye may only guess whether the wings have 
really quitted the body. In one station which the bird occupied, being 
not over seven feet from me, I could, by closing one eye and focussing the 
other upon a closely placed background of greenery, note the extreme 
limit of the wing-motion. The tip, in each instance, traveled at least 
two inches from the body; yet the return was so instant and the dress 
so quickly composed that no detail of the readjustment could be traced. 
At least thirteen seconds of the time were spent hopping from place 
to place—first, up from the ground beyond to a mesh in the fencing 
sufficiently large for the bird’s passing—this involved a little struggle 
with interfering weed-stems to achieve the position—a momentary 
Taken in Inyo County 
Photo by the -4 uthor 
NEST OF SIERRA HERMIT THRUSH IN WILLOW 
745 
