SUMMER BIRDS. 
140 
THE SUMMER BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN CATSKILL 
MOUNTAINS. 
FAMILY TURD IDLE : THRUSHES. 
The summer Fauna of the Catskill region lacks but two members of this 
family of the full number of its species pertaining to the Eastern Faunal 
Province of the United States, viz. — the Mocking-bird ( Minins poiyglottus 
Boie.) of more southern, and the Gray-cheeked Thrush ( Hylocichla Alicice 
Baird) of more northern breeding range. 
It can be said of no other region of such limited extent, that all eastern 
representatives of the genus Hylocichla , excepting of course true H. Alicice , 
are found as summer residents within its borders; much less that they all 
breed within an area of a few miles. Among the Catskills we find in the 
valleys, H. mustelina and If. fuscescens, on the mountains, H. ' nanus and 
H. ’ Szuainsoui, while H. ’ Bicknelli inhabits one if not others of the higher 
peaks. 
Hylocichla mustelina (Gm.) Baird. Wood Thrush. 
Apparently not uncommon, but showing none of the confidence or 
familiarity which characterize it in other, more settled, regions. Here 
it was found to be a shy, retiring inhabitant of the woodland along 
the valleys and lower slopes, and except in the morning and evening 
hours its song was not often heard. Once only was it iound high on 
the mountains. This was at an elevation of perhaps 2,5oo feet, where 
the refrain of a most accomplished singer reached me simultaneously 
with the wilder melody of the Winter Wren. 
Mr. Pearsall discovered two nests, completed but without eggs, 
June 12. 
Hylocichla fitscescens (Steph.) Baird. Wilson’s Thrush. 
Common along the water-courses in the valleys and in damp 
woody tracts on the lower slopes of the hills, but not noticed at a 
greater elevation than about 2,000 feet. 
A nest discovered near Summit, June 7, 1880, contained two eggs, 
and the following day a third had been deposited. The situation 
and position of this nest were rather unusual. It was built near the 
border of a wood containing little undergrowth, and placed at a 
height of about three feet, on the stumps of several closely clustered 
saplings which, having been chopped into and incompletely severed, 
had fallen over on one side. In the Big Indian Valley, Mr. Pearsall 
discovered seven nests; the first June 3, with two eggs, the last June 
12, with three eggs, both sets being fresh; the largest set observed 
was of four eggs — June 10. Without exception these nests were 
