SMALL THRUSHES OF CALIFORNIA. 57 



THE SMALL THRUSHES OF CALIFORNIA. 



BY L. BELDING. 



There has been much confusion concerning the small 

 thrushes that occur in California, arising mainly, I be- 

 lieve, from the neglect of observers to verify their observa- 

 tions by securing specimens. Hoping to induce the orni- 

 thologists of California to give much closer attention to the 

 four or more small thrushes that are found here, I have 

 taken the libertj^ to present herein a portion of the data 

 which came into my possession while superintending the 

 collection of information concerning the migration aod 

 distribution of birds in the "Pacific District,"' and have 

 quoted, sparingly, from several authors, such matter as I 

 thought appropriate. 



I, am indebted to my young friend, Walter E. Bryant, for 

 overseeing the publication of this paper. All measure- 

 ments are in inches or parts thereof, and the nomenclature 

 of the American Ornitholgists' Union has been followed. 



1. Turdus ustulatus (Nutt.) 



Russet-backed Thrush. — This is the one best known by 

 our collectors, as it is less shy, and is perhaps the only one 

 of these thrushes that breeds in the cultivated parts of 

 the State, to which it appears to be mostly restricted. My 

 observations at San Diego incline me to believe that it does 

 not arrive in California from the south much before the 

 first of May, although it is at least iDOssible that individuals 

 may arrive in the interior of the State from the Colorado 

 and Mojave Deserts by way of i;he Tehachapi Pass and other 

 interior routes much sooner than along the cool sea coast, 

 as is undoubtedly the case with other species. It leaves 

 central California about the first of September. Dr. Cooper 

 (Proc. Nat. Mus. , 1879, p. 249) says: ''It left Haywards 

 September 20, 1875." It has been collected as far south as 



2d Ser.. Vol. 11. [ o ] October 1, 1889. ' 



