WILLOW THRUSH 231 



reported to have bred there that season. Two specimens have been 

 taken in Arizona; one at Tucson in May 1882, and the other at Fort 

 Verde, May 13, 1887. Two specimens have been reported from 

 Europe; one of unknown date in Pomerania, Germany, and one 

 on Helgoland about 1833. 



Egg dates. — Massachusetts: 32 records, May 22 to June 19; 26 

 records, May 28 to June 6, indicating the height of the season. 



New York: 72 records, May 5 to June 30; 46 records, May 27 to 

 June 10. 



Ontario: 10 records, May 31 to June 26; 6 records, June 9 to June 

 15. 



Washington: 9 records, June 6 to June 23. 



HYLOCICHLA FUSCESCENS SALICICOLA Ridgway 

 WILLOW THRUSH 



HABITS 



This western subspecies of our familiar veery is described by 

 Ridgway (1907) as similar to it, "but coloration duller, the brown of 

 the upper parts less tawny (varying from deep isabella color to nearly 

 broccoli brown), and brown streaks on upper chest and sides of lower 

 throat averaging slightly darker." In general appearance it more 

 closely resembles the olive-backed thrush than the veery, but it can 

 be easily recognized by the absence of the buffy eye ring, which is so 

 conspicuous in the oliveback. 



Its breeding range covers southern Canada from British Columbia 

 to Manitoba, and extends south in the western United States to 

 central Oregon, Nevada, Utah, northern New Mexico, and central 

 Iowa. It apparently migrates southward mainly between the Rocky 

 Mountain region and the Mississippi Valley, straggling farther east- 

 ward, and spends the winter in South America. 



Both its scientific and its common names were given to it because 

 of its evident preference for willow thickets along the streams during 

 the breeding season. In southwestern Saskatchewan, in 1905 and 

 1906, we often heard its veerylike song in the narrow timber belts 

 along the creeks, where it was evidently common but seldom seen in 

 the dense, shady thickets; we succeeded in collecting only two and 

 found no nests. Laurence B. Potter, who lives in that region, says 

 in his notes: "The willow thrush is certainly, in my experience, the 

 shiest and most elusive bird, woodland or elsewhere. Unlike the 

 well-behaved child, it is more often heard than seen, and to get a 

 good look at this thrush by the ordinary methods is almost impossible. 

 Certain observers have remarked a notable decrease in numbers of 

 the willow thrush in recent years, and that is my own experience." 



