observed during the Survey until toward the close of the second season, when specimens were taken
in the Rocky Mountains near Chief Mountain Lake, under circumstances which left no doubt of the
breeding of the species in that vicinity. As it is, however, a common species of wide distribution in
North America, it is doubtless to be found, like the Robin [Merula, migratoria], wherever timber
grows, along the line of the northern boundary.”
In Manitoba it is a common summer resident, according to Mr. Ernest Thompson (Proc. U.S.
Nat. Mus. xiii. p. 604). In Ontario Dr. Mcllwraith records it as a migrant in spring and fall,
arriving about the middle of April and departing about the 7th of May ” (Proc. Essex Inst. v. p. 84).
Dr. Hart Merriam found it breeding near Point de Monts in Quebec, in July (Bull. Nutt. Orn.
Club, vii. p. 284). Mr. Brewster found the species along the south shore of Labrador and again on
Anticosti Island, where it was common (Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H. xxii. p. 369); in the latter island it
was also plentifully noticed by Mr. Verrill {op. tit. ix. p. 137). On the Magdalens Dr. Bishop found
it common and breeding in July, and says that it was noticed on most of the islands (Auk, vi.
p. 149). The Hermit-Thrush was also observed everywhere in the Restigouche Valley in New
Brunswick in July by Messrs. Brittain and Cox (Auk, vi. p. 119), and in Prince Edward Island and
Cape Breton Island in summer by Mr. Dwight (Auk, iv. p. 16, x. p. 15).
On the Upper St. John River Mr. Batchelder found the species breeding at Grand Falls on the
30th of May (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vii. p. 108), and it nests on the mountains of the New England
States, whence there are numerous records from Maine to Connecticut, where Mr. Faxon found this
Thrush abundant on Bear Mountain (Auk, vi. p. 46), and Mr. Treat obtained two nests at Norfolk in
June (Sage, Auk, x. p'. 371).
The Hermit-Thrush also breeds in Pennsylvania. Mr. Dwight, in his paper on the summer
birds of the Pennsylvania Alleghanies, writes as follows :—“ Among some scattered pines at the top
of Wopsononock Mountain I found a pair feeding their young. As the abundance of this species
can best be determined about sunset, when every male is pouring forth its evening song, I cannot
say how abundant it is at this point. It was not encountered at Cresson, but in the deep woods
of North Mountain it found a congenial home and was very numerous. Often it was possible to
distinguish a dozen singing at the same time in the early morning or the late evening hours.
There was an overhanging cliff commanding a deep, narrow valley, whence at sunset even a greater
number might be heard, their notes blending with those of the Olive-backed and Wood Thrushes.”
Mr. Witmer Stone (Auk, xi. p. 182) records the species as a summer bird of the Pocono
Mountains in Pennsylvania, and observes :—“ The elevation and location of the Pocono plateau is
such as to warrant .a fauna quite as local as that found at Harvey’s Lake and North Mountain
{cf. Stone, Proc. Philad. Acad. 1891, p. 431).” It was abundant and^breeding in Northern Elk Co.,
according to Mr. Baily (Auk, xiii. p. 296). Mr. Nehrling says that it is a rather common summer
resident in the woods of central and northern Wisconsin; and although in Minnesota it is principally
known as a migrant, Dr. Hatch (B. Minnesota, p. 441) says that “ numbers enough remain during
the summer.” On Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan, Mr. White states that the present
species is a common summer resident (Auk, x. p. 230).
In the Central United States the Hermit-Thrush is known as a migrant only. Such is the case
in Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana ; but a few winter even as far north as the Hudson River (Mearns,
Bull. Nutt. Club, iv. p. 33), and Mr. Nehrling says that they have also been known to winter in
Southern Illinois and in the neighbourhood of Washington, D.C.
A specimen from Quantico, Virginia (Feb. 22), is in the Henshaw Collection. In Kentucky it
is a common migrant (Pindar, Auk, vi. p. 316), and in South Carolina Mr. Loomis records it as very
common in winter up to April 21 (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iv. p. 210). In Alabama it was noticed
by Mr. N. C. Brown from January 1st to April 30th (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, iii. p. 169), and in
.Louisiana Mr. Beckham has recorded it from Bayou Sara, as observed from the 1st to the 28th of
April; he considers it to be a winter visitor to the State (Auk, iv. p. 306). Mr. Nehrling says that
this Thrush “ passes the winter in great numbers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and especially
in Florida.” A large series of skins is in the Salvin-Godman Collection, obtained by Mr. W. E. D.
Scott at Tarpon Springs from. Feb. 13 to April 12, and again in October. Mr. Scott states (Auk, vii.
p. 120) that it is a common migrant and winter resident on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and was found
•abundantly at Punta Rassa in winter by Mr. Atkins, who also obtained a specimen at Key West in
January. At Gainsville Mr. Chapman met with it abundantly from January to the 15th of April
.(Auk, v. p. 277). Mr. Wayne states that it occurs in Florida from February to June (Auk, xii.
p. 366), and Messrs. Brewster and Chapman noticed it on the Suwanee River in March and April
(Auk, viii. p. 138). In the Caloosahatchie region Mr. Scott records it as a migrant and winter
resident (Auk, ix. p. 214).
The Salvin-Godman Collection contains specimens obtained by Mr. F. B. Armstrong in Texas, at
San Patricio in December, at Papalote in Bee County on the 26th of January, and at Corpus Christi
in November and December. At San Antonio Mr. Attwater says it is a rare migrant and winter
resident (Auk, ix. p. 344). Mr. Lloyd obtained a single specimen in Eastern Concho Co. in Western
Texas during the spring migration (Auk, iv. p. 298).
A specimen from “ Mexico ” is in the Seebohm Collection, purchased from a dealer, and
the Henshaw Collection contains one marked as from Orizaba. A single skin, undoubtedly
referable to T. pallasi, was obtained by Mr. Salvin at Coban in Vera Paz, Guatemala, in November
.1859 (Ibis, 1860, p. 272), ,
A skin from “ California,” without further credentials, is in the British Museum {cf. Seebohm,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 198). It may be further remarked that not a single specimen of
T. pallasi from Colorado is in the Henshaw Collection, and therefore Mr. Nehrling’s statement
that it occurs in that State at an altitude of from 1000 to 8000 feet' probably refers to some
;other species.
Dr. Elliott Coues, in the ‘ Birds of the Colorado Valley,’ writes “ Great injustice
would be done were the Hermit’s musical powers overlooked in any sketch, however slight, of
its life-history. The earlier authors were evidently unaware of its accomplishments, for its
melody is lavished on the gloom of the swamp, or lost in the darkening aisles of the forest, where
years passed by before the ear of the patient and toiling student of nature was gladdened by the
sweet refrain. Wilson denies its song; Audubon speaks of ‘ its single plaintive note,’ though
he adds, perhaps upon information received from his friend Dr. Pickering, that ‘ its song is
sometimes agreeable.” Nuttall seems to have first recognized the power and sweetness of the
lay of our Hermit: he compares it to the famous Nightingale, that sweet princess of song, and
ranks it far above the Wood-Thrush. Later writers agree in this high estimate of the bird’s
powers, though it may be questioned whether a comparison unfavourable to the Wood-Thrush
is a perfectly just discrimination. The weird associations of the spot where the Hermit triumphs,
the mystery inseparable from the voice of an unseen musician, conspire to heighten the effect
of the sweet, silvery, bell-like notes, which, beginning soft, low, and tinkling, rise higher and
higher, to end abruptly with a clear, ringing intonation. It is the reverse of the lay of the
Wood-Thrush, which swells at once into powerful and sustained effort, then gradually dies
away, as though the bird were receding from u s ; for the song of the Hermit first steals upon
us from afar, then seems to draw nearer, as if the timid recluse were weary of solitude, and
craved recognition of its conscious power to please. Yet it is but a momentary indecision—true
to a vow of seclusion, the anchorite is gone again to its inviolate grotto in the fastnesses of the
swamp, where a world of melody is wasted in its pathetic song of life.”
YOL. I. 2 d