Part 6

Dr. Suckley, who found them quite abundant in the neighborhood of Fort Steilacoom, on the edge of the forest, and in swampy land, describes the song as a low, soft, sad, and lively whistle, confined to one note, and repeated at regular intervals. Mr. Nuttall, the first to describe this form, speaks of it as shy and retiring, and as in the habit of gathering insects from the ground. His ear, so quick to appreciate the characteristics of the songs of birds, which showed a close resemblance between the notes of this bird and that of Wilson’s Thrush (_T. fuscescens_), enabled him to detect very distinct and easily recognizable differences. It is much more interrupted and is not so prolonged. The warble of this bird he describes as resembling _wit-wit t´villia_, and _wit-wit, t´villia-t´villia_. His call when surprised was _wit-wit_.

All the nests of this species that have fallen under my observation are large, compact, strongly constructed, and neat. They measure about 5 inches in their external diameter, with a depth externally of 3; the cavity is comparatively shallow, being rarely 2 inches in depth. The external portions are constructed almost entirely of _Hypnum_ mosses, matted together and sparingly interwoven with dry leaves and fine fibrous roots, and are lined with finer materials of the same kind. These nests most nearly resemble in their material and in their position those of Swainson’s Thrush.

Mr. Hepburn found these birds very abundant about Victoria. It does not usually breed there before the last of May, though in one exceptional instance he found a nest with young birds on the 24th of that month.

The eggs vary in size and shape, ranging from .77 to .94 in length, and from .65 to .69 in breadth. They also vary in their ground color and in the tints of the spots and markings. The ground color is light green or light blue, and the markings are variously yellowish-brown and lilac, or dark brown and slate.

Mr. Grayson found this thrush very abundant in the month of January, in the thickest of the woods, in the islands of the Three Marias, on the Pacific coast of Mexico. They were very timid and shy, more so than any bird that he saw on those islands. It frequently uttered a low plaintive whistle, and seemed solitary in its habits.

Turdus pallasi, CABANIS.

RUFOUS-TAILED THRUSH; HERMIT THRUSH.

_Turdus pallasii_, CABANIS, Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1847 (I), 205.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 212.—IB. Rev. Am. B. 1864, 14.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 325 ??.—IB. Catal. 1861, 2, No. 7.—RIDGWAY.—MAYNARD.—SAMUELS, 148. _Turdus solitarius_, WILSON, Amer. Orn. V, 1812, 95 (not of LINNÆUS).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1857, 212. _Turdus minor_, BON. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 72. _Turdus guttatus_, CABANIS, Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, 1844, 187 (not _Muscicapa guttata_ of PALLAS). Additional figures: AUD. Birds Am. III, pl. cxlvi.—IB. Orn. Biog. I, pl. lviii.

SP. CHAR. Tail slightly emarginate. Above light olive-brown, with a scarcely perceptible shade of reddish, passing, however, into decided rufous on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, and to a less degree on the outer surface of the wings. Beneath white, with a scarcely appreciable shade of pale buff across the fore part of the breast, and sometimes on the throat; the sides of the throat and the fore part of the breast with rather sharply defined subtriangular spots of dark olive-brown; the sides of the breast with paler and less distinct spots of the same. Sides of the body under the wings of a paler shade than the back. A whitish ring round the eye; ear-coverts very obscurely streaked with paler. Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 3.84; tail, 3.25; tarsus, 1.16; No. 2,092.

HAB. Eastern North America. Mexico? Not found in Cuba, _fide_ GUNDLACH.

In spring the olive above is very much that of eastern specimens of _swainsoni_; in winter specimens it is much browner, and almost as much so as in _fuscescens_. Young birds have the feathers of the head, back, and wing coverts streaked centrally with drop-shaped spots of rusty yellowish.

HABITS. Until quite recently the “Ground Swamp Robin,” or Hermit Thrush, has not been distinguished from the closely allied species _T. swainsoni_, and all accounts of writers have blended both in singular confusion. My colleague, Professor Baird, in the summer of 1844, was the first to suggest the distinctness of the two species. By the common people of Maine and the British Provinces this difference has long been generally recognized, this species being known as the “Ground Swamp Robin,” and the other as the “Swamp Robin.”

The present species is found throughout Eastern North America to the Mississippi, and breeds from Massachusetts to high arctic regions. It is only occasionally found breeding so far south as Massachusetts; through which State it passes in its spring migrations, sometimes as early as the 10th of April; usually reaching Calais, Maine, by the 15th of the same month.

It is a very abundant bird throughout Maine, where it begins to breed during the last week of May, and where it also probably has two broods in a season.

The greater number appear to pass the winter in the Southern States; it being common in Florida, and even occasionally seen during that season as far north as latitude 38° in Southern Illinois, according to Mr. Ridgway.

It rarely, if ever, sings during its migrations; appears in small straggling companies, frequents both thickets and open fields, and is unsuspicious and easily approached.

The song of this species is very fine, having many of the characteristics of that of the Wood Thrush (_T. mustelinus_). It is as sweet, has the same tinkling sounds, as of a bell, but is neither so powerful nor so prolonged, and rises more rapidly in its intonations. It begins with low, sweet notes, and ends abruptly with its highest, sharp ringing notes.

Taken from the nest they are easily tamed, and are quite lively and playful; but their want of cleanliness renders them very undesirable pets. When their nest is visited they make no complaints, but retire to a distance. Not so, however, when their natural enemy, the hawk, appears; these they at once assail and seek to drive away, uttering loud and clear chirps, and peculiar twittering sounds.

The nest of this thrush is always built on the ground, most generally either under low bushes or in the open ground, rarely, if ever, among thick trees, and for the most part in low swampy places. Both nest and eggs closely resemble those of Wilson’s Thrush (_T. fuscescens_). In Parsboro, Nova Scotia, I found one of the nests built in the very midst of the village, close to a dwelling, though on a spot so marshy as to be almost unapproachable. The nests are 3 inches in height and 5 in diameter, with a cavity 3¼ inches wide by 1¾ deep. They are composed of decayed deciduous leaves, remnants of dried plants, sedges and grasses, intermingled with twigs, and lined with finer grasses, sedges, and strips of bark.

The eggs are of a uniform bluish-green color, and range in length from .88 to .94, with an average of .63 of an inch.

Turdus pallasi, var. nanus, AUDUBON.

DWARF HERMIT THRUSH.

_Turdus nanus_, AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 201, pl. cci.—BAIRD, Birds N. A. 1858, 213; Rev. Am. B. 1864, 15.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859.—IB. Catal. 1861.—DALL & BANNISTER.—COOPER, Birds Cal., p. 4. _Turdus pallasi_, var. _nanus_, RIDGWAY, Rep. Kings Exped. V, 1872. _? Turdus aonalaschkæ_, GMELIN, S. N. I, 1788, 808. _?? Muscicapa guttata_, PALLAS, Zoög. Rosso-Asiat. II, 1811, 465.

SP. CHAR. Above with the clear dark olive of _swainsoni_, but this even purer and more plumbeous. Upper tail-coverts (but not lower part of rump) becoming more rufous, the tail abruptly darker, richer, and more _purplish_-rufous, approaching to chestnut. The clear olive of the neck passes into brownish-_plumbeous_ along sides; pectoral spots more sparse and less pure black than in _T. pallasi_. The white beneath is of an almost snowy purity, appreciably different from the cottony-white of _T. pallasi_. Wing, 3.30; tail, 3.00; bill, .36; tarsus, 1.07.

A very tangible and constant character possessed by this bird is the more slender and depressed bill, as compared with that of _T. pallasi_. Specimens vary only in intensity of colors; these variations very limited, and corresponding with those of _T. pallasi_. In all cases, however, their precise pattern and peculiar distribution is retained.

HAB. Western Province of North America, eastward from Kodiak to Cape St. Lucas. Arizona, COUES.

HABITS. This small race of the Hermit Thrush was first noticed by Dr. Pickering, and described by Mr. Audubon from an imperfect skin. It has since been obtained abundantly on the Pacific slope, and Mr. Ridgway procured a specimen as far east as the East Humboldt Mountains, which he considers its eastern limit.

In its habits it is said to be, like _T. pallasi_, almost exclusively terrestrial. Dr. Heermann mentions finding it abundant in California, and breeding among the stunted oaks covering the sand-hills of San Francisco. Dr. Coues found it in Arizona, but speaks of it as rare and migratory, occurring chiefly in spring and autumn, and as a shy and retiring species. Dr. Cooper, in his Report on the Birds of California, describes it as shy and timid, preferring dark and shady thickets, feeding chiefly on the ground, running rapidly, and searching for insects among the leaves.

Near San Diego they began to sing about the 25th of April. The song, consisting of a few low ringing notes, resembles that of Wilson’s Thrush (_T. fuscescens_), and also that of _T. ustulatus_, but is not so loud. Their note of alarm is a loud and ringing chirp, repeated and answered by others at a long distance.

At Santa Cruz, on the first of June, Dr. Cooper met with several of their nests, which, though probably erroneously, he supposed to belong to the Dwarf Hermit Thrush. They were all built in thickets under the shade of cottonwood-trees. Each nest was about five feet from the ground, and all contained eggs, from two to four in number, in differing stages of incubation. The nests were built of dry leaves, roots, fibres, grasses, and bark, without any mud, and were lined with decayed leaves. Their height and external diameter measured 4 inches. The diameter of the cavity was 2½ inches and the depth 2¼. The eggs measured .90 by .70 of an inch. They are of a pale bluish-green, speckled with cinnamon-brown, chiefly at the larger end.

The nest, supposed to be of this species, supplied by Dr. Cooper, is large for the bird; constructed of a base loosely made up of mosses, lichens, and coarse fibres of plants. It is a strong and compact structure of matted leaves, put together when in a moist and decaying condition; with these there are interwoven roots, twigs, and strong fibres, surrounding the nest with a stout band and strengthening the rim. In fact, it corresponds so well—as do the eggs also—with those of _T. ustulatus_, that it is extremely probable that they really belong to that species. The only observable difference is the absence of the _Hypnum_ mosses characteristic of northern _ustulatus_.

Dall and Bannister mention in their list of Alaska birds that the species is not common there. It was also taken at Sitka and Kodiak by Bischoff.

The fact that this thrush builds its nest above the ground, and lays spotted eggs, if verified, would at once warrant our giving it independent rank as a species, instead of considering it as a local race of _pallasi_.

Turdus pallasi, var. auduboni, BAIRD.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HERMIT THRUSH.

_Turdus auduboni_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 16.—RIDGWAY, P. A. N. S. 1869, 129.—ELLIOT, Illust. (fig.). _Merula silens_, SWAINSON, Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 369 (not _Turdus silens_ of VIEILLOT, Encycl. Méth. II, 1823, 647, based on _T. mustelinus_, WILS. = _T. fuscescens_).—IB. Fauna Bor.-Amer. II, 1831, 186.—BAIRD, Birds N. Amer. 1858, 213, and 922.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 325 (La Parada), and 1859, 325 (Oaxaca).—IB. Catal. Am. Birds, 1861, 2, no. 9.

SP. CHAR. Colors much as in _Turdus nanus_, but the upper tail-coverts scarcely different from the back. Tail yellowish-rufous. Length of wing, 4.18; tail, 3.60; bill from nostril, .45; tarsus, 1.26.

HAB. Rocky Mountains, from Fort Bridger south into Mexico. Orizaba (Alpine regions), SUMICHRAST.

This is a very distinct race of thrushes, although it may be questioned whether it be truly a species. It is, however, sufficiently distinct from the eastern and western Hermit Thrushes to warrant our giving it a place of some kind in the systems.

The young plumage differs from that of _pallasi_ as do the adults of the two, and in about the same way. The olive is very much purer, with a greenish instead of a brownish cast, and the tail is very much lighter, inclining to dull ochraceous instead of rufous; this yellowish instead of rufous cast is apparent on the wings also. The yellowish “drops” on head, back, etc., are very much narrower than in _pallasi_, while the greater coverts, instead of being distinctly tipped with yellowish, merely just perceptibly fade in color at tips.

HABITS. At present we have but little knowledge of the habits of this form of _T. pallasi_, and no information whatever regarding its nesting or eggs.

In its distribution it is confined to the central range of mountains from Fort Bridger to Southern Mexico. This species, there known as “Solitario,” is common in the Alpine region of Vera Cruz (as well as in all the elevated regions of Central Mexico), frequenting the pine woods in the district of Orizaba. Mr. Sumichrast obtained it at all seasons of the year at Moyoapam, in that vicinity; a locality the height of which approximates 2,500 metres. It is also found at a height of 1,200 metres, near the city of Orizaba.

Mr. Ridgway calls this bird the “Rocky Mountain Hermit Thrush.” He states that he found it common in the Wahsatch Mountains, but that, on account of its retiring habits, it was seldom seen. It there lives chiefly in the deep ravines in the pine region, exhibiting an attachment to these solitudes rather than to the thickets along the watercourses lower down; the latter it leaves to the _T. swainsoni_. Owing to the reserved manners of this bird, as well as to the great difficulty of reaching its abode, there were few opportunities presented for learning much concerning its habits, nor did he hear its song. In its flight the pale ochraceous band across the bases of its quills was a very conspicuous feature in the appearance of its species, leading Mr. Ridgway to mistake it at first for the _Myiadestes townsendii_,—also an inhabitant of the same localities,—so much did it look like that bird, which it further resembled in its noiseless, gliding flight.

SUBGENUS TURDUS, LINN.

[Line drawing: _Turdus iliacus._ 1718]

Of _Turdus_, in its most restricted sense, we have no purely American representatives, although it belongs to the fauna of the New World in consequence of one species occurring in Greenland, that meeting-ground of the birds of America and Europe; which, however, we include in the present work, as related much more closely to the former.

This Greenland species, _Turdus iliacus_, is closely related to _T. viscivorus_, the type of the genus, and comes much closer to the American Robins (_Planesticus_) than to the Wood Thrushes (_Hylocichla_).

Turdus iliacus, LINN.

REDWING THRUSH.

_Turdus iliacus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. 1758, 168, and of European authors.—REINHARDT, Ibis, 1861, 6 (Greenland). BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 23 (Greenland).

SP. CHAR. This species is smaller than our Robin (_T. migratorius_), but of a similar grayish-olive above, including the head. The under parts are white; the feathers of the lower throat and breast streaked with brown. The sides, axillars, and inner wing-covert are reddish-cinnamon. A conspicuous white streak over the eye and extending as far back as the nape. Bill black, yellow at base of lower jaw. Legs pale-colored. Second quill longer than fifth. Length, about 8.25; wing, 4.64; tail, 3.45; bill, from gape, 1.07; from nostril, .44; tarsus, 1.16; middle toe and claw, 1.15. Specimen described: 18,718, ♂, a British specimen received from the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich.

HAB. Greenland, in the New World.

The occurrence of this well-known European species in Greenland brings it within the limits of the American Fauna. Two Greenland specimens are recorded by Dr. Reinhardt: one of them shot at Frederickshaab, October 20, 1845.

HABITS. The Redwing can probably only claim a place in the fauna of North America as an occasional visitant. Of the two specimens observed in Greenland, one was shot late in October. It is not known to breed there.

This species, during its breeding season, is found only in the more northern portions of Europe; only occasionally, and very rarely, breeding so far south as England. It makes its appearance in that kingdom on its southern migrations, coming in large flocks from Northern and Northeastern Europe, and arriving usually before the end of October. During their stay in England they frequent parks and pleasure-grounds that are ornamented with clumps of trees. During mild and open weather they seek their subsistence in pasture lands and moist meadows, feeding principally on worms and snails. In severe winters, when the ground is closed by frost or covered by snow, the Redwings are among the first birds to suffer, and often perish in large numbers.

During the winter they extend their migrations to the more southern portions of Europe, to Sicily, Malta, and even to Smyrna. In early spring they return to the more central portions of the continent, and leave in May for their more northern places of resort.

They nest in trees in the moist woods of Norway and Sweden. Their nests resemble those of the common Fieldfare, _T. pilaris_. The outside is composed of sticks, weeds, and coarse grass, gathered wet, and matted with a small quantity of moist clay. They are lined with a thick bed of fine grass.

The Redwing is said to possess a delightful note, and is called the Nightingale of Norway. Linnæus, speaking of this bird, claims that its high and varied notes rival even those of that far-famed vocalist.

During the summer the Redwing advances to the extreme north, visiting the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Northern Russia. The general character of its food, its inability to feed exclusively on berries, and the fact that it perishes from starvation in severe winters, would seem to prove that its occurrence in Greenland so late as October must have been purely accidental. It is not probable that its presence in North America will be found to be a common event.

The eggs measure 1.06 inches in length by .81 in breadth. The ground color is a light green with a bluish tinge thickly covered with russet or reddish-brown spots, confluent at the larger end.

SUBGENUS PLANESTICUS, BONAP.

_Planesticus_, BONAP. Comptes Rendus, 1854. (Type _Turdus jamaicensis_, GMELIN.)

[Line drawing: _Turdus migratorius._ 853]

This section of the Thrushes is well represented in America, especially in its middle and southern portions, and its members have a close resemblance to the typical European species in the full form, stout legs, etc., as already stated. The spots on the throat, and their absence elsewhere on the under part of the body, are sufficient to distinguish them.

Of the two North American species one is the well-known Robin, the other a closely related form from Cape St. Lucas; which indeed is probably only a local race or variety, although nothing exactly like it has yet been found away from Lower California. The following diagnosis may serve to distinguish the two birds:—

COMMON CHARACTERS. Throat white with dark streaks. Rest of under parts, including lining of wing, reddish or ochraceous; the anal region whitish; lower eyelid white. Nest on trees. Eggs plain blue.

Above slaty-olive, approaching to black on the head. Beneath rufous-chestnut. Spot in lore and on upper eyelid of white. Tail, 4.25. _Hab._ Whole of North America; Mexico, south to Oaxaca and Cordova; Cuba (very rare) and Tobago, of West Indies … var. _migratorius_.

Above dull grayish-ash, not darker on the head. Beneath pale yellowish-buff; tinged with ashy across breast; a continuous white stripe from the lores over and a quarter of an inch behind the eye. More white on belly and flanks than in _T. migratorius_. Bill stouter; tail only 3.75, while the wing is the same. _Hab._ Cape St. Lucas, Lower California … var. _confinis_.

Turdus migratorius, var. migratorius, LINN.

ROBIN; AMERICAN REDBREAST.

_Turdus migratorius_, LINN. S. N. 12th ed. 1766, 292.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1856, 294; 1859, 331; 1864, 172.—IB. Catal. Am. Birds, 1861, 4.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1860, 396 (Coban).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 218; Rev. Am. B. 1864, 28.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 172.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 475. (Texas, winter).—COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 64 (Arizona).—DALL & BANNISTER (Alaska).—COOPER, Birds Cal.—SAMUELS, 154. Figures: VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, pl. lx, lxi.—WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1808, pl. ii.—DOUGHTY, Cab. N. H. I, 1830, pl. xii.—AUDUBON, Birds Am. III, pl. cxlii; Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxxxi.

SP. CHAR. Tail slightly rounded. Above olive-gray; top and sides of the head black. Chin and throat white, streaked with black. Eyelids, and a spot above the eye anteriorly, white. Under parts and inside of the wings, chestnut-brown. The under tail-coverts and anal region, with tibiæ, white, showing the plumbeous inner portions of the feathers. Wings dark brown, the feathers all edged more or less with pale ash. Tail still darker, the extreme feathers tipped with white. Bill yellow, dusky along the ridge and at the tip. Length, 9.75; wing, 5.43; tail, 4.75; tarsus, 1.25.

HAB. The whole of North America; Mexico, Oaxaca, and Cordova; Guatemala; Cuba, very rare, GUNDLACH; Tobago, KIRK; Bermuda, JONES; Orizaba (Alpine regions, breeding abundantly), SUMICHRAST.

Young birds have transverse blackish bars on the back, and blackish spots beneath. The shafts of the lesser coverts are streaked with brownish-yellow; the back feathers with white.

There are some variations, both of color and proportions, between eastern and western specimens of the Robin. In the latter there is a tendency to a longer tail, though the difference is not marked; and, as a rule, they slightly exceed eastern specimens in size. The broad white tip to the lateral tail-feather—so conspicuous a mark of eastern birds—is scarcely to be found at all in any western ones; and in the latter the black of the head is very sharply defined against the lighter, clearer ash of the back, there hardly ever being a tendency in it to continue backward in the form of central spots to the feathers, as is almost constantly seen in eastern examples; of western specimens, the rufous, too, is appreciably lighter than in eastern. As regards the streaks on the throat, the black or the white may either largely predominate in specimens from one locality.

In autumn and winter each rufous feather beneath is bordered by a more or less conspicuous crescent of white; in addition to this, most of the lighter individuals (♀?), at this season, have an ashy suffusion over the breast and flanks; and this, we have observed, is more general and more noticeable in western than in eastern specimens. In fall and winter the color of the bill, too, changes, becoming at this season either partially or wholly dusky, instead of almost entirely yellow, as seen in spring and summer examples.