THRUSHES, SOLITAIRES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 473 



gray, black of hind neck sharply contrasting with gray of anterior part of 

 back ; outer tail feather without distinct white tip, often with no white ; 

 throat black, streaked with white ; rest of under parts, except tail coverts, 

 rufous ; in female paler and duller. In winter : upper parts tinged with 

 brown ; under parts with feathers edged with white. Young : under parts 

 spotted ; upper parts streaked with white. Young in first winter : head 

 and neck brownish gray, like upper parts ; rufous of breast paler, more 

 olivaceous. Length: 10-11, wing 5.20-5.70, tail 3.80-4.70, bill .S5-. ',);">. 



Distribution. Breeds in Transition and Boreal zones in the western 

 United States from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to the 

 Pacific, and from British Columbia south to Lower California and Oaxaca, 

 Mexico. 



Nest. On prairies, on the ground, and. in timber, near the ground; 

 compact and bulky, made of leaves, stems, twigs, and grasses, plastered 

 together with mud, and lined with fine stems and rootlets. Eggs : usually 

 4, greenish blue. 



Food. Largely ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and the injurious large 

 black crickets ; also hackberry. mistletoe and pepper berries, and other 

 small fruit. 



In the east the robin is the familiar bird of the dooryard, like the 

 mockingbird of the south, or the brown chippie, the house finch, and 

 the lark sparrow in parts of California. But in the west he nests in 

 the mountains or far north, and when seen in winter is shy and 

 nervous. Flocks are sometimes seen eating ivy berries in the ceme- 

 teries of San Francisco, but are so timid they hide in the brush in 

 great trepidation on the approach of man. 



The robin song, one of the most familiar and best loved of the 

 east, is not often heard, but in southern California during the spring 

 migration I have seen flocks of twenty birds in an oak top singing 

 their soft evening song, and at Stanford I once heard a wonderful 

 robin chorus equal to the best daybreak chorus one hears in the 

 east. 



In the Sierra as in the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona, in 

 both Transition and Canadian zones, the robins breed abundantly, 

 and as you pass are seen shaking their tails as they chirrup in their 

 old familiar way. In the neighborhood of Lake Tahoe we found 

 large numbers of them gathered in a field alive with grasshoppers, 

 and they were running about in all directions, tipping forward to 

 catch the insects in characteristic manner. 



GENUS IXOREITS. 

 General Characters. Like Merula, but bill not notched. 



KEY TO FEMALES. 



1. Browner, with white markings restricted. Sitkan district. 



naevius, p. 473. 

 1'. Grayer, white markings more extensive. Interior Alaska. 



meruloides. p. 474. 



