PACIFIC VARIED THRUSH 87 



neighbors." He mentions a nest that was placed "full sixty feet up 

 and eight feet out on the first limb of a stately hemlock." 



Robert R. Talmadge writes to me: "The nest in my collection is 

 made of moss with a little shredded redwood bark; this was placed 

 on a foundation of mud and small twigs of the Sitka spruce. The 

 nest cup was slightly arched over and placed to one side of the main 

 body. This cup was lined with fine dried grasses and fine bits of 

 shredded bark. The outside diameter varies from 7% to 8K inches. 

 The depth is 4% inches. The cup measures Z}£ inches at the top, and 

 widens out to 4 inches at the bottom. The depth of the cup is 2% 

 inches." 



Henry C. Kyllingstad sends me the following note from Alaska: 

 "The varied thrush is one of the most abundant nesting birds at 

 Mountain Village, building its nest on the ground among the Sitka 

 alders (Alnus sinuata) or at heights from a few inches to 15 feet 

 above ground in the willow (Salix sp.) thickets. Clutches of three, 

 four, and five eggs are about equally common. All nests have in the 

 lining some of the fine, black, hairlike roots of Equisetum, which the 

 birds gather from the cutbanks of the river. 



"If one approaches the nest too closely, the brooding bird flies off 

 with a harsh squawking cry, and its mate soon joins the noise. Both 

 birds slink through the branches a little way from the nest calling 

 like young robins just off the nest. If the nest is not completed or if 

 incubation has only just begun, the nest is usually deserted after the 

 most casual and brief visit. Closer examination of the nest and hand- 

 ling of the eggs will cause desertion even when incubation is advanced 

 several days. 



"These thrushes are among the earliest to arrive in spring of all 

 our passerine birds, and they begin nesting almost immediately. Two 

 years arrival dates are May 7 and May 1. The first nests with full 

 clutches of fresh eggs for the two years were found on May 21 and 

 May 16." 



Eggs. — The Pacific varied thrush may incubate on two, three, or 

 four eggs, or even five, but nearly all the sets consist of three. The 

 shape varies from ovate to a rather long-oval. The ground color is a 

 robin's-egg blue, rather paler than the usual robin's egg, or "Nile 

 blue." The eggs are rather sparingly, though more or less evenly, 

 marked with small spots or fine dots of dark brown, "raw umber," 

 "burnt umber," or "seal brown"; and there are often a few under- 

 lying shell markings of "ecru-drab" or "Quaker drab." 



The measurements of 38 eggs average 30.5 by 21.3 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 34.5 by 20.5, 31.0 by 23.0, 

 27.9 by 21.5, and 29.2 by 18.5 millimeters. 



