NATURE STUDY. 



Volume I. OCTOBER, 1899. Number 9. 



SOME OCTOBER BIRDS 



BY 



C. J. Maynabd. 



Although it is probable that many more birds migrate southward in 

 September than during any of the autumn months, October has a fair share 



of migrants. 



During the first week in October the olive-backed, gray-cheeked, and 

 hermit thrushes pass through Eastern Massachusetts. As a rule, all three of 



Fig. 90. 



Hermit Thrush. 



these species are wood inhabiting birds, but they may be tempted out of the 

 woodlands by any unusual display of food. For example, early in this month 

 we found a large number of all three of these species feeding upon the ber- 

 ries of the poke weed, or Indian tobacco, which grew in an open place by 

 the side of a cart path which leads to one of the stone quarries in Waltham. 



