218 



Distribution. As a species all of North America, north to tree limits. The Eastern 

 Robin covers aU of Canada overlapping with the western form on the Pacific coast. 



SUBSPECIES. The Robin is divided into three subspecies of which the Eastern 

 Robin, the type form, is the only eastern Canadian representative. 



The Robin has more intimate associations with man than perhaps any- 

 other bird. Its cheery voice is the harbinger of spring. Its song is the first 

 heard in the morning and the last at night, and in the autumn when 

 it has stripped the rowan tree of its last berry, and has disappeared we 

 know that winter is upon us. Though named after a famous Old World 

 bird, it only very superficially resembles the Robin Red-breast of England. 

 The only points of resemblance are its red breast and confiding habits. 



Probably the worst enemy of the Robin is the household cat. Nesting 

 in readily accessible places young Robins are subject to many disturb- 

 ances, often leave the nest before they are able to fend for themselves 

 and so fall prey to the cat. 



The spotted breast of the young Robin indicates its descent from 

 a spotted ancestor and its relationship to the thrushes of the previous 

 genus. In fact the young of most of the members of the family have spotted 

 breasts. 



Economic Status. Though the Robin is an efficient aid to the agri- 

 culturist, its fondness for fruit occasionally gets it into trouble with the 

 small fruit raiser. Forty-two per cent of its food is animal, mostly insects, 

 the remainder is composed largely of berries and other soft small fruits 

 of which little more than 4 per cent is cultivated fruit. 



765. Wheatear. pr. — le traquet motteux. Saxicola oenanthe. L, 7 01. A 

 Titlark-like bird, light grey above, white below, warmed with buff colour on throat; a 

 black band through the eye and a white rump. The female and juvenile are similar but 

 duller and more evenly buff coloured. 



Distinctions. The conspicuous and extensive white rump with the general colorations 

 given above are distinctive. 



Field Marks. With its showy white rump the bird looks like a partly albino Titlark. 



SUBSPECIES. The subspecies of Wheatear that occurs in eastern Canada is the 

 Greenland Wheatear S.q. leucorhoa. 



This is a European bird of regular occurrence in Greenland and 

 perhaps in the adjacent parts of Ungava but of only casual or accidental 

 occurrence elsewhere in Canada. 



766. Bluebird, fr. — le rotjge-gorge bleu. Sialia sialis. L, 701. Plate LB. 

 Distinctions. The only solidly blue bird with a reddish breast among Canadian 



species — the Indigo bird is blue but lacks the red breast. Females and juveniles are duller 

 in colour and the breasts of young birds are spotted with brown but all have the character- 

 istic blue backs. 



Field Marks. The bright blue coloration of the back and the earthy red of the 

 breast. 



Nesting. In hollow trees, posts, or stubs or in bird houses, in nest of grasses. 



Distribution. Eastern North America, west to the prairie provinces and north nearly 

 to the bounds of settlement. 



SUBSPECIES. The subspecies of Bluebird occurring in Canada is the typical race, 

 the Eastern Bluebird. 



The Bluebird arrives in the early spring with the Robin and 

 the Meadowlark. It is a confiding bird building in the hollows of old 

 apple trees, holes in fence-posts, bird boxes, or nests abandoned by Wood- 



