The Hermit Thrush Breeding in Litchfield County, ConnecticutAuthor(s): Louis H. PorterSource: The Auk, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Oct., 1910), pp. 461-462Published by: American Ornithologists' UnionStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4070917 .

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Vol. XXVII] General Notes. 461

range are unlikely to found permanent coloni-es of regular summer residents. - FRANCIS H. ALLEN, West Roxbury, Mass.

The Wood Thrush in Newbury, Vermont. -Newbury, Orange County, Vermont, is on the west bank of the Connecticut River, Newbury village being about 5 miles south of Wells River, which also is a part of the town of Newbury. From the meadows along the river, the land rises to a high bluff on which the village is situated, then still higher to the top of Mt. Pulaski, which is nearly a thousand feet above the sea. The house where I am spending the summer is among a growth of tall pines, spruces, oaks, birches, etc., at the foot of Pulaski slope. Before 7 A. M. July 4, 1910, many birds were singing about the house, among them the Hermit and Wilson's Thrush and White-throated Sparrow, when to my surprise I heard the Wood Thrush, which I had never heard in Vermont before. He sang four times; a day or so later, I saw a Wood Thrush.- ANNA E. COBB, Providence, R. I.

The Hermit Thrush Breeding in Litchfield County, Connecticut.- On July 23, 1910, I found a nest of a Hermit Thrush near the top of Bear Mountain, Litehfield County, Connecticut. The nest was about a half mile south of the Massachusetts line, and two or three miles east of the New York line, and at an altitude of about 2300 feet. The bird was flushed from the nest by a companion who was walking with me, and I had only a momentary glimpse of, it as it flew away. Although I re- mained in the vicinity of the nest for quite a long time, the bird did not return, but the glimpse that I had was sufficient to show that it was neither a Wood Thrush nor a Wilson's Thrush. The locality and construction of the nest, and the size and color of the eggs, seem to conclusively estab- lish that of the remaining possible thrushes, the bird must have been a Hermit Thrush. Dr. Louis B. Bishop, of New Haven, Conn., agrees with this identification, and tells me that it is the second record for Connecticut.

The nest was placed on a broad flat rock, under the shelter of a blueberry bush, and was embedded in gray moss. The nest was deeply cupped, and very neat. It was built externally of small sticks, most of them rotten and pulverized; the next layer was of grasses and fine twigs, with a good deal of green moss, and a few leaves, which, however, were not at all conspicuous, the moss being worked up around the edge of the nest, so that the general outer appearance of the nest was chiefly green. The nest was lined en- tirely, and very neatly, with long pine needles.

There were two fresh eggs in the nest, which measured .63 X .83 inches. They were a pale blue. Upon comparison with my series of eggs, I find that the blue is somewhat darker than that of a Bluebird, but fully as light as either a Robin's or a Wood Thrush's. Compared with the eggs of the Wilson's Thrush, the eggs are strikingly blue, and without any pronounced greenish tinge.- Louis H. PORTER, Stanford, Conn.

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462 General Notes. Auk

Notes from Grosse Isle, Michigan.- Lophodytes cucullatus. On July 5, 1909, James H. Fleming, P. A. Taverner, and I noticed a bird swimming in the Detroit River just outside of the strip of marsh below my place on the island which we took to be a grebe. Upon investigation we saw that it was a duck of some species, and Taverner took a canoe and secured it. It was a juvenile male Hooded Merganser in good condition but with a healed broken wing which accounted for its presence here at this time.

Dendroica discolor.- I saw at very close range, on Sept. 30, 1909, a Prairie Warbler on the edge of a low strip of woodland in the central section of Grosse Isle. The bird approached within about fifteen feet of me, and I could clearly make out the yellowish wing bars, the yellow super- ciliary stripe, and streaked sides. This bird was, lingering somewhat later than it generally does in other localities. I am aware of no other county record in autumn. At Point Pelee, Ont., however, we have taken it Sept. 5, 1905, and August 15, 1908, and Saunders and Taverner have seen and heard birds that they were positive were this species on Sept. 6, 1905, and Sept. 20, 1906.- B. H. SWALES, Gross Isle, Mich.

Notes from Connecticut.- As it will be at least a year before the 'List. of the Birds of Connecticut' on which Mr. Sage and I have been at work can be ready for the press I have felt the following records were of enough interest to be recorded in 'The Auk.'

Fulmriarus glacialis. FULMAR.-A male was shot off Stony Creek by Mr. A. H. Verrill on October 10, 1909, and brought to Dr. L. C. Sanford in the flesh. The latter showed it to me on October 12, just after he had finished making it into a skin. This is the first record for Connecticut, and it is remarkable that so pelagic a species should have wandered to Long Island Sound.

Somateria dresseri. AMERICAN EIDER.-Young King Eiders (Somateria spectabilis) often occur in late fall on the Connecticut coast, but the only record for the present species that I know of since 1877 (Merriam, Trans. Conn. Acad., IV, 1877, p. 127) is that of a young male which Mr. Alanson Ganung shot off West Haven on December 20, 1909, and very kindly gave me in the flesh.

Limosa fedoa. MARBLED GODWIT.- On August 26, 1909, Mr. Wil- liam Ganung shot in West Haven an adult female Marbled Godwit and a young Western Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inornatus), and his brother, Alanson, brought them to me. Western Willets are by no means common, and this is the first occurrence of the Marbled Godwit, so far as I know, since Linsley's record (Am. Jour. Sci., XLIV, 1843, p. 267).

Aquila chrysaitos. GOLDEN EAGLE.- A young bird of this species was shot in East Haven on October 9, 1909, and brought to Dr. Sanford in the flesh.

Halimetus leucocephalus alascanus. NORTHERN BALD EAGLE.- A young female Bald Eagle, which was shot near Willimantic on October

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