NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 437 



usually lively and varied, warbling almost like the Yellow Bird, and 

 then chanting like the Robin." This charming writer, in speaking of 

 the marshy places which this bird inhabits, beautifully says : "In 

 these almost Stygian regions which, besides being cool, abound prob- 

 ably with its favorite insect food, we are nearly sure to meet our sweet- 

 ly vocal hermit flitting through the settled gloom, which the brightest 

 rays of noon scarcely illumine with more than twilight." * 



The nest, like that of Wilson's Thrush, is built on the ground or 

 very near it, in some low, secluded spot, generally beneath the shelter 

 of dense shrubbery. It is rather bulky, and loosely made of leaves, 

 shreds of bark, grasses, mosses, and lined with similar but finer ma- 

 terial. The eggs are usually four, often only three, of greenish-blue, 

 unspotted, and average .86 x .65. 



[ 760.] Turdus iliacus LINN. [ 6 ] 



Rod-winged Thrush. 



Hab. Northern portions of F.urope and Asia: accidental in Greenland. 



The Red-winged Thrush of Europe claims a place in the avifauna 

 of North America from its accidental occurrence in Greenland. Dur- 

 ing the breeding season it is found in the more northern portions of 

 Europe, only occasionally breeding as far south as England. Breeds 

 in the wooded districts of Norway and Sweden. It has been found 

 nesting in the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Northern Russia. In the 

 winter the Redwing extends its migrations to the more southern portions 

 of Europe Sicily, Malta, and even Smyrna. The nest of this species 

 is usually placed in the center of a thorn bush or small tree, and is made 

 of moss, roots, and dry grasses outwardly, cemented together with clay, 

 and lined inwardly with finer grass. The external diameter averages 

 about five inches by three deep ; the cavity is three in diameter by 

 about two deep. The eggs range from four to six in number, pale 

 bluish-green or olive-greenish, speckled and spotted with reddish- 

 brown. Their average size is 1.04 x .75. 



761. Merula migratoria (LINN.) [7] 



American Rotniu. 



Hab. Eastern and Northern North America (Hudson Bay region to Alaska); west to the Great 

 Plains, of occasional occurrence in Eastern Mexico. 



During the summer months this familiar bird has an extensive 

 range, breeding as it does from near the southern border of the United 

 States northward to the Arctic coast. The nest is saddled on a hori- 

 zontal branch or built in the crotch of trees of almost any kind, and it 

 is commonly placed on the top rail of a fence, often on stumps, and, in 



* A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada. By Thomas Nuttall, A.M., F.L.S., 

 &c. Second Edition, with Additions. The Land Birds. Boston: Milliard, Gray & Co. 1840. P. 394. 



