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
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.)
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.
Turdus migratorius.
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.
Mexican specimens, found breeding in the Alpine regions as far south as Orizaba and Mirador, most resemble the western series; one, however (No. 38,120 ♂, Orizaba), but in the autumnal plumage, and therefore very possibly a migrant from the North, is hardly distinguishable from No. 32,206, Georgia; it is about identical in proportions, and the rufous is of a castaneous shade, like the deepest colored eastern examples; the white tip to the outer tail-feather is as broad and conspicuous as is ever seen in the latter.
Habits. Scarcely any American bird has a wider range of geographical distribution, or is more numerous wherever found, than this thrush. From Greenland on the extreme northeast to the plateau of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Robin is everywhere a very abundant species. Single specimens have been obtained as far south as Coban, Guatemala. Its distribution in the breeding season is hardly less restricted, occurring alike on the shores of the Arctic Seas and on the high lands of Vera Cruz. In the winter months it is most abundant in the Southern States, while in the Middle and even the Northern States, in favorable localities, it may be found throughout the year; its migrations being influenced more by the question of food than of climate. In the valleys among the White Mountains, where snow covers the ground from October to June, and where the cold reaches the freezing-point of mercury, flocks of the Robin remain during the entire winter, attracted by the abundance of berries.
On the Pacific Coast the Robin is only a winter visitant in California; a very few remaining to breed, and those only among the hills. They reach Vancouver Island early in March, and are very abundant.
In New England, where the Robins are held in great esteem, and where they exist under very favorable circumstances, their numbers have very largely increased, especially in the villages. They cause not a little annoyance to fruit cultivators by their depredations upon the productions of the garden, especially cherries and strawberries. They are a voracious bird, and no doubt destroy a large quantity of small fruit, but there is abundant evidence that this is more than compensated by their destruction of the most injurious insects, upon which they wage an incessant war. The investigations of Mr. J. W. P. Jenks and Professor Treadwell establish conclusively their great services in this direction.
The experiments of the latter gentleman show that the nestlings of the Robin require a vast amount of animal food, forty per cent more than their own weight being consumed by the young bird within twenty-four hours, and, what is more, demonstrated to be necessary to its existence.
PLATE II.
1. Turdus confinis, Baird., Cape St. Lucas, 23789.
2. Turdus nævius, Gm. Cala., 21363.
3. Turdus migratorius, Linn., Penn., 1851.
4. Turdus iliacus, Linn., Europe.
In Massachusetts a few Robins remain throughout the year, but the greater proportion leave early in November, returning late in February or early in March.
The song of the Robin is deservedly popular. While many of our birds possess far superior powers of melody, and exhibit a much greater variety in their song, there are none that exceed it in its duration or extent. It is the first bird in spring to open and one of the last to close the great concert of Nature. Their song is earnest, simple, and thrilling, and is said by Audubon to resemble that of the European Blackbird, Turdus merula.
The Robin, when taken young, may be readily tamed, and soon becomes contented and accustomed to confinement. They are devoted to their young, watchful, attentive, and provident. They begin to construct their nest in early spring before the trees put forth their leaves, and often in very exposed positions. The size of the nest, in fact, makes concealment impossible. These nests are sometimes placed in quite remarkable positions, such as the beams of a ship partly finished, and where the carpenters were every day at work, and similar situations indicating a great familiarity. Their favorite place is the horizontal branch of an apple-tree, about ten feet from the ground.
The nest of the Robin is a large and coarsely constructed combination of rude materials. It is composed of a base of straw, leaves, mosses, stems, and dry grasses, upon which a cup-shaped fabric of clay or mud is built. The whole is lined with finer dry grasses and vegetable fibres. They average 5 inches in height and the same in diameter. Their cavity is 2¾ inches deep, with a diameter of 2½ inches.
The eggs of the Robin, which are usually five and sometimes six in number, are of a uniform bright greenish-blue color, liable to fade when exposed to light, but when fresh exhibiting a very distinct and bright tint. They vary in size from 1.25 to 1.12 inches in length, and in breadth from .88 to .75 of an inch. Their mean measurement is 1.18 by .81.
Turdus migratorius, var. confinis, Baird
CAPE ST. LUCAS ROBIN
Turdus confinis, Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 29.—Elliot, Birds America.—Cooper, Birds Cal., 9.
Sp. Char. No. 23,789. Entire upper parts and sides of head and neck uniform grayish-ash, with perhaps a faint tinge of olivaceous, less than in eastern specimens of T. migratorius. The central portions of the feathers of the top of head are rather darker than the edges, though almost inappreciably so, and not imparting a general dusky appearance. The chin and throat are white, streaked with ashy-brown. The jugulum and breast are pale yellowish-buff; the axillars, inner wing-coverts, and sides of the breast similarly, but rather more decidedly colored. The belly and edges of the crissal feathers are white, the hinder parts of the flanks ashy. There is a distinct whitish stripe from the lores over and a quarter of an inch behind the eye; the lower eyelid is also white. The tail-feathers are worn, but there is an indication of a narrow white tip. The feathers of the jugulum, especially of the sides, are tipped with ashy like the back, as in immature specimens of T. migratorius. The greater wing-coverts are tipped with dull white. The bill is yellowish; the upper mandible and the tip of lower tinged with dusky. The feet are pale brown.
The length cannot be given accurately, as the skin is much drawn up. The wing, however, measures 5.10 inches, its tip reaching 1.40 beyond the longest secondary; tail, 4.10; tarsus, 1.20; middle toe and claw, 1.07; exposed portion of culmen, .92; from tip to open portion of nostrils, .60.
Hab. Todos Santos, Cape St. Lucas.
The specimen with a general resemblance to an immature T. migratorius (especially the western variety) in the white superciliary streak and general markings, is much lighter beneath than in any of the many skins of T. migratorius examined; there being none of the dark chestnut or cinnamon shade, but rather a light buff; the belly and flanks are much more purely white. The superciliary stripe extends farther behind the eye; indeed, in most specimens of migratorius the white is nearly confined to the eyelids. The bill and wings are rather longer than usual in migratorius; the middle toe, on the other hand, appears shorter. Nothing is on record in regard to the habits of this bird.
Subgenus HESPEROCICHLA, Baird
Hesperocichla, Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1864, 12. (Type Turdus nævius, Gm.)
Turdus nævius.
9814
The single species of this subgenus differs in form from the Robins (Planesticus), in the more awl-shaped bill, the curved commissure, and the absence of a notch at the end; the longer, slenderer, and straighter claws; and in the dissimilarity in color of the sexes. In the latter respects it agrees with Merula of Europe and Middle America; in which, however, the bill is distinctly notched, and less attenuated. The tail is shorter and broader than in Planesticus, more as in true Turdus or Hylocichla.
Turdus nævius, Gmel
OREGON ROBIN; VARIED THRUSH
Turdus nævius, Gm. S. N. I, 1788, 817.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, 4; 1859, 331.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 219; Rev. Am. B. 1864, 32.—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 172.—Coues, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 65. (Quotes occurrence on Colorado River, above Fort Mohave, as exceptional.)—Maynard (Massachusetts!).—Turnbull (N. Jersey!).—Dall & Bannister (Alaska).—Cooper, Birds Cal. 10. Orpheus meruloides, Rich. F. B. A. II, 1831, 187, pl. xxxviii.
Other figures: Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, pl. lxvi.—Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, pl. ccclxix, and ccccxxxiii.—Ib. Birds Am. III, pl. cxliii.
Sp. Char. Tail nearly even; the lateral feather shorter. Above, rather dark bluish slate; under parts generally, a patch on the upper eyelids continuous with a stripe behind it along the side of the head and neck, the lower eyelids, two bands across the wing coverts and the edges of the quills, in part, rufous orange-brown; middle of belly white. Sides of the head and neck, continuous with a broad pectoral transverse band, black. Most of tail feathers with a terminal patch of brownish white. Bill black. Feet yellow. Female more olivaceous above; the white of the abdomen more extended; the brown beneath paler; the pectoral band obsolete. Length, 9.75 inches; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.90; tarsus, 1.25.
Young (45,897, Sitka, Aug. 1866; F. Bischoff). Exactly resembling the adult female, having no spots other than seen in the adult plumage; but the pectoral collar is composed only of badly defined blackish transverse crescents, and the upper parts anterior to the rump are of an umber brown tint. The markings about the head and on the wings are precisely as in the adult.
This species does not appear to be liable to any noticeable variation.
Hab. West coast of North America, from Behring Straits to California; straggling to Great Bear Lake. Accidental on Long Island (Cab. G. N. Lawrence), New Jersey (Cab. Dr. Samuel Cabot), and Ipswich, Mass. (Cab. Boston Society Natural History); Iowa (Allen).
Turdus nævius.
Habits. The accidental occurrence of a few specimens of this well-marked bird in the Eastern States is its only claim to a place in that fauna, it being strictly a western species, belonging to the Pacific Coast. It was first discovered by the naturalists of Captain Cook’s expedition, who met with it as far to the north as Nootka Sound. It is only very recently that we have become possessed of reliable information in regard to its breeding and its nest and eggs. Sir John Richardson was informed that it nested in bushes in a manner similar to that of the common robin.
Nuttall and Townsend found it abundant among the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, near the Columbia River, in October. In the winter it became still more numerous, passing the season in that region as well as in more southern localities, associating with the robin. From this bird it may be readily distinguished by the difference of its notes, which are louder, sharper, and delivered with greater rapidity. In the spring, before leaving for their breeding-places, they are described as having a very sweet warble.
On the Columbia River they were not resident, arriving there in October, continuing throughout the winter, and leaving early in May. During their stay they moved through the forest in small flocks, frequenting low trees, and for the most part keeping perfect silence. They were timorous and difficult of approach.
Its habits are said to resemble those of the robin, but in some of them the descriptions given appear to correspond more with those of the Fieldfares and Redwings of Europe. Like those species it is a summer resident of high northern latitudes, affects secluded forests and thickets bordering upon streams, and is found only in unfrequented localities.
Dr. Cooper was of the opinion that a few of these thrushes remained in Washington Territory throughout the summer, as he frequently met with them in the dark spruce forests of that region as late as June and July. He describes the song as consisting of five or six notes in a minor key, and in a scale regularly descending. It was heard continually throughout the summer, among the tops of the trees, but only in the densest forests. Dr. Suckley states that after a fall of snow they would be found along the sandy beaches near the salt water, where they were both abundant and tame. We are indebted to Mr. W. H. Dall for our first authentic knowledge of its nest and eggs. The former measures 6 inches in diameter with a depth of 2½ inches. It has but a very slight depression, apparently not more than half an inch in depth. The original shape of the nest had, however, been somewhat flattened in transportation. The materials of which it was composed were fine dry mosses and lichens impacted together, intermingled with fragments of dry stems of grasses.
A nest of this thrush obtained by Dr. Minor, in Alaska, is a much more finished structure. Its base and periphery are composed of an elaborate basket-work of slender twigs. Within these is an inner nest consisting of an interweaving of fine dry grasses and long gray lichens.
The eggs in size, shape, ground color, and markings are not distinguishable from those of the Turdus musicus of Europe. They measure 1.13 inches in length by .80 in breadth, are of a light blue with a greenish shading, almost exactly similar to the ground color of the T. migratorius. They are very distinctly marked and spotted with a dark umber-brown approaching almost to blackness.
Mr. Dall informs us that the nest found by him was built in a willow bush, about two feet from the ground, and on the top of a large mass of rubbish lodged there by some previous inundation. Other nests of the same species were met with in several places between Fort Yukon and Nulato, always on or near a river-bank and in low and secluded localities.
They arrive at Nulato about May 15, and prefer the vicinity of water, frequenting the banks of small streams in retired places. Mr. Dall states that he has seen the male bird on a prostrate log near the nest, singing with all his might, suddenly cease and run up and down the log for a few minutes, strutting in a singular manner, then stopping and singing again; and keeping up this curious performance. Specimens were received from Sitka, Kodiak, Cook’s Inlet and Admiralty Islands.