common in southern Illinois, possibly because of the large 
amount of concealing cover. 
Fall Migration 
After the spring migration hermit thrushes are general- 
ly not seen in Illinois again until mid-September or late 
September (Fig. 18). Though there are a few August rec- 
ords (Ford 1956), we are inclined to discount them either as 
accidental records or misidentifications. Most of the hermit 
thrushes pass through Illinois in October, and nearly all 
are gone by November 15. Bennett (1952) has shown that 
the strong October cold fronts often bring large numbers of 
hermits to the lakeshore of northeastern Illinois (see also 
Jung 1925). The largest numbers are seen on the first two 
days after the cold front passes. As in the spring, the num- 
bers of hermit thrushes are low in southern Illinois (Fig. 
18). 
i) 
(=) 
Fig. 17.—General distribution of the | 
thrush. 
Though the other species of Catharus thrushes ar 
quently killed at television towers, hermits escape witl 
few casualties, about .02 percent of the thousands of 
we have observed as tower victims. 
Recoveries of hermit thrushes banded in northeé 
Illinois during fall passage (Fig. 19) have been Ww 
spread in the Gulf States (Bartel 1935, Downing | 
Jurica et al. 1959). Reuss (1953) recorded an indi\ 
hermit thrush staying as long as 2 weeks in the same a 
northeastern Illinois during October. 
Winter Records 
There are scattered winter records of the hermit t 
for all sections of the state (Fig. 20), but there are no F 
measurements of winter populations. Our own Ce 
(Graber & Graber 1963) showed measurable popul 
only one year out of two, and then only in the south, | 
