136 Field and Forest Rambles. 



tarrying until every berry is devoured,"and the soil is so hard 

 and crisp that no grub or insect of any sort can be obtained ; 

 indeed, I feel assured if subsistence were procurable it would 

 frequently tarry all the winter. 



In rearing the young, I frequently observed that individuals, 

 when able to feed themselves, assume the duties of their 

 parents and nurse their younger brethren, picking up worms 

 as fast as I supplied them, and cramming the others so 

 assiduously that on removing the latter they would 

 appear quite disconsolate, chirping and moving about the 

 perches with worms in their bills. Although the adult robin 

 has none of the spots and markings of other members of its 

 family, still, like the young of the blackbird, they are spotted 

 on the breast and belly until the first moult ; which is an 

 important point when we come to study the affinities com- 

 mon to thrushes in general * 



The song of the HERMIT THRUSH (T. Pallasii), like that 

 of the last-mentioned bird, is incomplete, just as if it had 

 learned certain bars composed of highly clear and sweet mel- 

 low notes, which suddenly terminate, and you listen to hear 

 what will follow, when there is a rapid repetition, just as if he 

 had got up his part so far, but for the life of him could not vary 

 it further, f The hermit thrush well deserves its name, de- 

 lighting in thickets and dense woods, and ascending now 

 and then to the topmost branches of stately trees, from 

 whence its loud notes fall on your ear with an agreeable 

 welcome, rendered doubly so after the long dreary winter; 

 for it shows by its presence that the summer is not far 

 off, although the bud has not yet opened. It takes its de- 

 parture towards the end of September. The nest is made 



* See Darwin, " Descent of Man," vol. ii., p. 183. 



f Mr. Boardman, to whom I am so much indebted for very valued 

 information on the zoology of this region, likens the song of the hermit 

 thrush to the words, " O spherel, spherel j O holly, holly j O, clear away, 

 clear away; O, clear up, clear up /" as if the little creature was praying 

 for the bright sunny days of midsummer. 



