The Breeding of the Hermit Thursh on Martha's Vineyard Island. — 



Mr. H. V. Greenough took on July 27, 1900, a female Hermit Thrush 

 {Hylocickla guttata ■pallasii] near Tashmoo Lake, West Chop, Martha's 

 Vineyard, Mass. The bird was heard singing, and a number of others of 

 its kind were seen, evidently of one family. Tlie bird taken is in very 

 worn breeding plumage. This is the first breeding record I believe for 

 this island. — Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., Long-wood, Mass. 



Auk, XVIII, Jan., 1901, v-'if- 



The Hermit Thrush on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. — Apropos of Mr. 

 Reginald Heber Howe's record of the Hermit Thrush on Martha's Vine- 

 yard Jthe following maybe of interest. In a list of birds read before the 

 Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, Feb. 2, 1899, the writer gave the 

 Hermit Thrush as a summer resident on Martha's Vineyard. My first 

 experience with this bird was in August, 1897, while camping on the 

 western shore of Lake Tashmoo, a small brackish pond in the northern 

 part of the island. Our camp was- situated upon a small promontory 

 which projects into the lake for about one hundred yards. Extending 

 between this point and the shore is a cove-shaped marsh covered with 

 sphagnum and freshened by numerous springs. On the side of the 

 marsh near the shore the bank ascends abruptly for eight or ten feet and 

 then slopes gradually back, at no place reaching a height of fifty feet. 

 Covering the point and extending half a mile back from the shore is a 

 grove of yellow pines. Here and there they have been cleared away, 

 giving place to an undergrowth of bay, high bush huckleberry, and vari- 

 ous species of oak. Further back fi om the shore the pines have so inter- 

 grown as to make it almost impere'-'able. Bordering on these is an oak 

 growth which where it encroaches upon the pines makes a dense and 

 well-shaded woods. 



Early in the morning we would invariably find several Hermit Thrushes 

 near the springs. Soon, however, they would retire to the deep woods 

 whence we could hear their songs until late in the afternoon. 



During each of the following summers I have made many ti-ips to this 

 locality, the earliest and latest dates being June 24 and September 27. Of 

 all the days spent there I can only recall one instance, a dark cloudy day 

 late in August, upon which I neither heard nor saw a Hermit Thrush. 



Ahhough the writer has never found a nest he has seen the young birds 

 repeatedly and feels quite confident that at least three pairs nested there 

 during the past summer. 



So far my experience leads me to believe that this " boreal island," occu- 

 pying less than one square mile, Is the only spot where the Hermit Thrush 

 nests on Martha's Vineyard. — Herbert L. Coggins, Germantown, Pa. 



Auk, XVIII, Jan., 1901, p/j. i/t-112. 



Hermit Thrush. One seen on the 

 vard Botanical Gardens in this city. 



i 16 of Decei 



w--^^uk, XIX, July, 1902, p.ilJ'J. 



Hylocichia guttata pallasii. One heard singing on the Greylock range. 



Aaii, Kix:, Oct., 1902. o, ^05""- 



