100 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



He gives the average measurement of 44 eggs as 30.0 by 21.3 milli- 

 meters, the largest measuring 31.8 by 22.3 and the smallest 28.0 by 

 21.1 millimeters. 



Food. — The birds that he saw in the Kowak Valley in August were 

 feeding "almost exclusively on cranberries and blueberries." Grinnell 

 and Storer (1924) say of the food of this subspecies in the Yosemite 

 region in winter: 



Like its not distant relative, the Western Robin, the Varied Thrush (sometimes 

 called Oregon Robin) feeds in the winter season chiefly on berries of various sorts, 

 and its local occurrence and relative abundance is governed by the season's crop 

 of these. Two or three of these birds seen among golden oaks near Camp Lost 

 Arrow, November 13, seemed to be feeding on mistletoe berries. On the Big 

 Oak Flat road, about 3 miles out of Yosemite Valley, on December 28, 1914, 8 or 

 more Varied Thrushes were seen feeding on the sweetish berries of a manzanita 

 (Arctostaphylos mariposa). On the Wawona Road at Grouse Creek, November 

 26, 1914, two were apparently feeding on berries of the creek dogwood. In the 

 Upper Sonoran foothill region, the Christmas berry or toyon (Heteromeles arbuti- 

 folia) furnishes a favorite food as long as the crop lasts. 



Voice. — A. Dawes Du Bois sends me the following tribute to the 

 song of the northern varied thrush: "I have reason to remember the 

 day that I heard, for the first time, the voice of a varied thrush. It was 

 on the Middle Fork of the Flathead, in the mountains of northwestern 

 Montana. I had seated myself for a brief rest among the rocks near 

 the bank of the river. All at once a voice of astonishing clearness 

 came from somewhere up the stream — a single tone, long sustained 

 with remarkable constancy of pitch. It was followed by a long rest, 

 then another long note and a silence, and yet others, each note of 

 distinctly different pitch. This mountain piper was sounding his 

 pipes with deliberate precision, swelling each note with matchless 

 truth and purity of tone. His music was radiant with spiritual quality, 

 thrilling in its effect. The murmurings and whisperings of the river 

 supplied the connecting passages. The whole became an imposing 

 largo, in perfect accord with the wildness, the clarity, the beauty of the 

 mountains." 



Fall— "In the fall of '98," in the Kowak Valley, the varied thrushes 

 "remained common until the last of August, though at that season 

 the birds were quiet and of secretive habits. * * * The last Varied 

 Thrushes, two in number, were seen on September 4th," according to 

 Grinnell (1900). The species was first seen on October 24, 1920, and 

 thereafter "large flocks" were observed on various dates throughout 

 November and December, in the Yosemite Valley, as reported to 

 Grinnell and Storer (1924) by C. W. Michael. 



