WESTERN BIRDS SoUtaire 



GENUS MYADESTES : TOWNSEND'S 

 SOLITAIRE. 



Townsend's Solitaire: Myadestes townsendi. 



FAMILY— THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 



SUBFAMILY— MYADiETIN^ : SOLITAIRES. 



In the Townsend Solitaire we have a bird which so 

 differs from the rest of the family as to be given a sub- 

 family by itself. It is a bird of the mountain solitude, 

 breeding from as far north as Alaska south through the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Bernardino range, 

 California, and through the Rocky Mountains to Ari- 

 zona and New Mexico; wintering from southern British 

 Columbia and Montana southward, straggling to central 

 Texas, Kansas, and Illinois; accidental in New York. 



The adults are about eight inches long and a smoky- 

 gray in general coloring, with under parts lighter. There 

 are two light wing bars and a buffy spot; a white eye- 

 ring, and the outer web of outer tail feather, and tip 

 of inner web is a soiled white. The young are spotted 

 above and below. 



It is named for J. K. Townsend, the pioneer ornitholo- 

 gist of the Pacific northwest, who is supposed to have 

 first seen it in or near Washington. In habits the bird 

 seems to partake both of the Flycatchers, darting out 

 and catching insects as do the members of this family, 

 and the Thrushes, slipping quietly through the woods 

 and moist, shady places. Thrush-like. Coues calls it the 

 Townsend Fly catching Thrush and says of it: "A bird 



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