84 Bird-Lore
young on Long Key. The faintly mottled white color of the eggs and young aHords a perfect example of protective coloration,
These birds breed about the end of Juhn One cannot get close enough to them to ascertain if the eggs are brooded, or for how long.
This year a special warden will be detailed, as the result of Mr. Dutcher’s kindly interest, and probably for the first time in their known history these breeding grounds will have the care and protection which all fair-minded people should extend toward our friends, the birds.
A Hermit Thrush Song
BY THEODORE CLARKE SMITH
(Rt'flnrln‘tl. h)‘ nelmlssion. irom The Ohm Naturalist In! February. mo: l
URING the summer of 1902 I stayed from June 24 to July 30 at a camp on the shore of Lake Memphremagog My tent was placed at the edge of a cedar and hemlock grove, mixed with
occasional maples and birches which furnished nesting places for a great variety of birds. The most conspicuous singer was a Hermit Thrush whos: nest was not far from the tent, and whose song was heard every morning and evening, and frequently during the day, for over a month, Others of his kind were also audible, sometimes close at hand, but none became so thoroughly familiar as this “ Camp Thrush." I have heard him at extremely close range,—on one occasion from less than ten feet,—and have also been able to distinguish his song, over the lake, from a distance of fully ihree»quarters of a mile. From an abundance of material the fol— lowing notes are contributed in the effort to analyze his vocal performance.
In form the song of this Thrush was very dis- tinct, clear—cut and regular. His typical phrase was . as here shown, This same form was repeated by o the bird in higher keys, usually somewhat simplified
by the omission of one or more of the latter notes unti, at the top of the bird‘s register, it became reduced to little more than the following. The closer one approached the Thrush the greater appeared the regularity, as long, that is, as the bird was in full song: for when beginning or when singing softly he eparted noticeably from his ordi» nary practice.
On several occasions the bird sang near the camp cabin, in which there was a piano, and it was a simple matter, owing to the regularity of the song, to determine the pitch with considerable accuracy. With regard to
