BIRDS OF KANSAS. 655 



at night and during severe storms in the thick growths of spruce 

 and other shrubby trees,* and subsist upon the snails and minute 

 forms of life that abound in the kelp and other debris washed 

 upon the shore. Their winter fare inland consists largely of 

 cedar berries, hackberries, M'ild grapes, etc'., and in the fall help 

 themselves to our cultivated berries; but they more than repay 

 the loss in the destruction of cut worms, canker worms and va- 

 rious forms of injurious insect life, which they diligently search 

 for in the gardens, plowed fields and bare spots, in the early 

 spring, ready to catch them as fast as they are warmed into life 

 in their winter beds by the hot rays of the sun and venture to 

 the surface. Then they are the first of the family to greet us 

 with their song: not as varied and musical as the silvery songs 

 of their cousins of the deep woods, but full of tender pathos, 

 and awaken us to the fact that winter is over and summer at 

 hand. 



Their nests are built in the crotches of trees, saddled on to 

 horizontal branches or placed in hedges, outbuildings — in fact, 

 most anywhere off the ground. They are coarsely constructed 

 of leaves, stems, twigs and grasses, fastened together and plas- 

 tered inside with mud, and lined with fine stems and rootlets. 

 Eggs three to five (usually four), 1.16x.80; greenish blue: in 

 form, oval. 



Merula migratoria propinqua Eidgw. 



WESTERN ROBIN. 

 PLATE XSXV. 



An occasional visitant in the western part of the State. (May 



breed there.) 



B. . K. la. C. 2. G. 7, 333. U. 761a. 



Habitat. Western United States; north to British Columbia; 

 east to the eastern edge of the Great Plains; south over the 

 table lands of Mexico. 



Sp. Char. Very similar to T. migratoria. Differ as follows: Outer tail feath- 

 ers without distinct white tip (often with no white at all); anterior portion of 

 back slaty gray, abruptly defined against black of hind neck. Average a little 

 larger. {Bidgway.) 



* These birds usually have roostiDg places in the deep, moist or swampy woods, where 

 they assemble at night, like the Crows, in large flocks. For full description of this habit, see 

 " Brewster on Eobin Roosts," in " The Auk," Vol. 7, p. 360. 



