TrRDID.E — THE THRUSHES. 



29 



Tiirdus nsevius, (Imel. 



OEEGON ROBIN; VARIED THRUSH. 



Turdiis ncBvius, Gm. S. N. I, 17S8, 817. — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1S57, 4; 18.')!), 331.— 

 Baird, Birds N. Am. 1S5S, 219 ; Eev. Am. B. 1864, 32. — Cooper & Sucklky, 1'. K. 

 R. K. XII, II, 1859, 172. — Copes, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 65. (Quotes occiuTcnce ou 

 Colorado River, above Fort Mohave, as exceptional.) — Ma\'>'ARD (Massachusetts!). — 

 TrRNBULL (N. .lei-sey !). — D.iLL & Baxxister (Alaska). — Cooper, Birds Cal. 10. 

 Orpheus meruloides, Rkh. F. B. A. II, 1831, 187, pi. xx.xviii. 



Other figures: ViEiLLor, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, pi. IxW. — AuD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 

 pi. cccl.xix, and ccccx.xxiii. — Ib. Birds .\ui. Ill, pi. cxliii. 



Sp. Char. Tail nearly even ; the lateral feather shorter. Above, rather dark bluisli 

 slate ; under parts generally, a patch on the upper eyelids continuous with a .striiie beliiiid 

 it along the side of the head and nock, the lower eyelids, two bands across the wing 

 coverts and the edges of the quills, in part, rufous orange-brown ; middle of belly white. 

 Sides of the head anil neck, continuous with a broad pectoral transverse band, black. 

 Most of tail feathers with a terminal patch of brownish white. Bill black. Feet yellow. 

 Female more olivaceous aliove ; the white of the abdomen more extended ; the brown 

 beneath paler; the pectoral band obsolete. Length, 9.7-3 inches; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.!)0; 

 tarsus, 1.25. 



Young (45,897, Sitka, Aug. 1866 ; F. Bischoff). Exactly resembling the adult female, 

 having no spots other than seen in the adult plumage ; but the pectoral collar is composed 

 only of badly defined blackish transverse crescents, and the upper parts anterior to the 

 rump are of an umber lirowu tint. The markings about the head and on the wings are 

 precisely a.s in the adult. 



This species does not appear to be liable to any noticealile variation. 



Hab. West coast of North America, from Behring Straits to California ; straggling to 

 Great Bear Lake. Accidental on Long Island (Cab. Gr. N. Lawrence), New Jer.sey (Cab. 

 Dr. Samuel Cabot), and Ipswich, Mass. (Cab. Boston Society Natural History) ; Iowa 

 (Allen-). 



Habits. Tlie accidental oceuiTence of a few .specimens of tliis well- 

 marked bird in the Eastern States 

 is its only claim to a place in that 

 fauna, it being strictly a western 

 species, belonging to the Pacific 

 Coast. It was first discovered by 

 the nattiralists of Captain Cook's 

 exj)edition, who met with it as far 

 to the north as Xootka Sound. It 

 is only very recently that we have 

 become possessed of reliable infor- 

 mation in regard to its lireeding 

 and its nest and eggs. Sir John 

 Richardson was informed that it 

 nested in bushes in a manner simi- 

 lar to that of tlie common robin. 7^«-rf.« ««.-,■«,. 



Nuttall and Towiiseud found it abundant among the western slopes of the 



