190 
instantly repeated by another, responding from the uncertain shadows in the distances beyond. 
His beautiful crescendo, begun so low and soft as to seem far away, and swelling upward 
progressively and evenly into its rounded sweetness and fullness, till he seems to be near enough 
to touch, yet all the time unseen, may well secure an appreciation of his powers to one for 
comparisons. This characteristic is a keynote to his identity while yet undiscovered, as the song 
of the Wood-Thrush is diametrically opposite in being equally perfect diminuendo." | 
‘The nesting of the species is thus described by Dr. Brewer in the * History of North American 
Birds ':—“ The nest of this Thrush is always built on the ground, most generally either under low 
bushes or in the open ground, rarely, if ever, among thick trees, and for the most part in low swampy 
places. Both nest and eggs closely resemble those of Wilson's Thrush (T. fuscescens). In Parsboro’, 
Nova Scotia, I found one of the nests built in the very midst of the village, clese to a dwelling, 
though on a spot so marshy ав to be unapproachable. The nests are 3 inches in height and 5 in 
diameter, with a cavity 84 inches wide by 1% deep. ‘They are composed of decayed deciduous leaves, 
remnants of dried plants, sedges, and grasses, intermingled with twigs, and lined with finer grasses, 
sedges, and strips of bark. The eggs are of a uniform bluish-green colour, and.range in length 
from :88 to "94, with an average of :63 of an inch." Mr. Brewster states that near Winchendon, 
Mass., he found the species abundant in summer, haunting by preference dry, rather than open, 
white-pine woods (Auk, v. p. 389). That the species occasionally varies its habit of nesting on the 
ground is evident from a note of Mr. Batchelder's, as he found a nest at Grand Falls on May 30 in 
a small fir-tree, about three feet from the ground. Іп Northern Elk Co., Pennsylvania, Mr. Daily 
has found nests on mossy banks by the side of the road. Пт. Merrill, in his “ Notes from Maine” 
(Bull Nutt. Orn. Club, vii. p. 190), writes :—“ Their eggs are usually taken in June, but I find 
among my notes the record of a set taken August, 1873, at Dedham, Maine, the eggs being but 
slightly incubated. This would seem to be presumptive evidence for the belief that these birds 
raise two broods in a season." 
The following note is from Dr. Coues's ‘ Birds of the Colorado Valley ' :—* 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 undergrowth that few are the ornithologists who 
have found it. If Wilson, Nuttall, or Audubon ever saw а nest, no one of them recognized its 
owner. The nests and eggs which they describe as those of the Hermit were certainly those of 
the Olive-backed Thrush, the only one which nests at any considerable distance from the ground 
and lays spotted eggs. And unless the Hermit has changed its choice of a summer home since 
Wilson and Audubon thought they had discovered its nest, it never bred in the southerly regions 
where they thought it did. But their mistake was not unnatural, since, singularly enough, neither 
of these ornithologists knew the difference between the Olive-backed and the Hermit Thrush— 
a distinction erroneously said by Dr. Brewer to have been first suggested by Professor Baird in 
1844, as Swainson had discriminated the two with perfect accuracy, though under wrong names, 
in 1831. 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 that one must detect the shy parents themselves before 
being sure which has been found. Тһе nest is built on the ground or near it, generally in some 
low, secluded spot; no mud is used in its composition, the whole fabric being a rather rude and 
inartistic matting of withered leaves, weed-stalks, bark-strips, and grasses—the coarser and stiffer 
substances outside, the finer fibres 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 or 
Wood-Thrush, in their uniform greenish-blue colour, but smaller, measuring about nine-tenths 
of an inch in length by five-eighths in breadth; being thus not distinguishable from those of 
the Veery. I have never known of an instance, to my recollection, of the eggs being spotted ; 
