52 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Turdus mustelinus (Gmel.) 



WOOD THRUSH. 



Popular synonyms. Bell Thrush; Bell Bird: Wood Robin; Grive des Bois and 

 Merle tanne (Canadian French). 



Turdus mustelinus GMEL. S. N. i, 1788. 817. NUTT. Man. i, 1832, 343. AUD. Orn. Biog. i, 

 1832, 372; v, 1839. 446, pi. 73; B. Am. iii, 1841, 24, pi. 144. BAIRD, B. N. Am. 1858. 212; Cat. 

 N. Am. B. 1859, No. 148; Review, 1864, 13. COUES, Key, 1872, 72; Check List, 1873, No. 

 3; 2d ed. 1882. No. 6; B. N. W. 1874, 2. B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874, 7, pi. 1, Fig. 1. 



Turdus (Hylocichla) mustelinus COUES, B. Col. Yal. 1878, 28. 



Hylocichla mustelina RIDGW. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, 1880, 166; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 1. 



Turdus melodus WILS. Am. Orn. i, 1808, 35, pi. 2, Fig. 1. 



HAB. Eastern United States and British Provinces in summer, breeding throughout. 

 In winter, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, and Bermudas. 



SP. CH. Above bright tawny cinnamon-brown, more rufescent anteriorly, more gray- 

 ish posteriorly; auriculars streaked white and dusky. Lower parts white, the breast and 

 sides with large blackish spots. 



Adult in summer: Above cinnamon-brown, becoming bright tawny rufous on the 

 head, the color clearer and somewhat lighter on the cervix; wings less reddish than the 

 back, rump still more olivaceous, and tail decidedly grayish brown. A pure white orbital 

 ring; lores grayish white, more gray immediately in front of the eye; aurieulars dusky, 

 distinctly streaked with whitish. A white malar stripe, curving upward beneath the au- 

 riculars, the anterior portion speckled with dusky. Entire lower parts white, usually 

 somewhat tinged with buff on the breast; sides of throat bounded by a stripe of aggre- 

 gated blackish cuneate streaks; jugulum marked with distinct cuneate or deltoid, the 

 breast and sides with larger, broader, inversely cordate, spots of black; abdomen and 

 crissum immaculate; throat with very few minute spots, or entirely immaculate. Bill 

 dark horn-color, the basal half of the mandible paler; iris dark brown; tarsi and toes 

 pale brown. Wing 4.104.50; tail, 3.00-3.30; culmen, .70 .75; tarsus, 1.20 1.30; middle 

 toe, .70 .75. 



Adult in winter: Similar, but jugulum more decidedly tinged with buff. 



Young, first plumage: Similar to the adult, but feathers of the pileum and back with 

 paler (ochraceous) shaft-streaks; middle wing-coverts with terminal triangular spots of 

 ochraceous, the greater coverts narrowly tipped with the same; spots on breast, etc., less 

 sharply denned. 



Specimens of this species vary considerably in the intensity of the 

 color of the upper surface, the variation involving both the rufous of 

 the anterior and the grayish brown of the posterior portions. Beneath, 

 the jugulum is occasionally without any buff tinge whatever, while 

 in some spring specimens this color is quite as evident as in most 

 autumnal or winter examples. The spots on the breast and sides 

 also vary much in size and exact shape, being larger and more 

 rounded in some, smaller and narrower in others ; in some speci- 

 mens they are deep black, in others decidedly brownish. Extreme 

 variations, however, in this respect, appear to be purely individual, 

 and not at all dependent on locality. 



