316 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



July 15, the song season was evidently over. Only once was a song 

 suspected from this bird. On the morning of the 22nd about 4 miles 

 from town, 'a single charming song was heard from the wooded 

 hillside — a thrush for a certainty. It had the quality. It was 

 inexplicably sweet — as fine as a Hermit Thrush — even finer, sweeter, 

 and quite as light and sentimental.' Let us hope the Kamchatkan 

 Nightingale was the author." 



Mr. Tucker contributes the following items: "Impressions of the 

 song vary somewhat. Dybowski says that the rubythroat is one of 

 the pleasantest songsters in Dauria, but describes the song as soft, 

 quiet and somewhat unvaried. Others are less sparing in their 

 praise: Clark (1910), for example, speaks of its fine, clear song and 

 (1945) calls it 'the finest and most persistent songster in Kamchatka'; 

 David and Oustalet (1877) describe it as equally remarkable for the 

 vivacity and grace of its movements as for the beauty of its song. 

 Seebohm (1879), again, speaks of a wonderfully fine song, richer and 

 more melodious than that of the bluethroat and scarcely inferior to 

 that of the nightingale. In any case the song is so much esteemed by 

 the Chinese that it is one of the most popular cage birds in northern 

 China. In the wild state the song is usually delivered from the tops 

 of the bushes or the lower limbs of small trees. If surprised in such a 

 situation, the bird is very quick to take refuge in the underbrush 

 (Clark, 1910). Laing (1925) observed that 'when alarmed or curious 

 the male often gave a little whistle, a note not heard from any American 

 thrush.' It has also a harsh scolding note tic, tic, tic, mentioned by 

 Seebohm." 



Field marks. — "The rubythroat is a small bird of the thrush type 

 with uniform brown upperparts and, in the case of the male, a bright 

 ruby-red throat and broad white superciliary and mustachial stripes. 

 The female is less distinctive. She has the throat white, sharply 

 defined from the bufnsh breast, the superciliary stripe bufnsh white, 

 and no mustachial stripe" (Tucker, MS.). 



Fall. — The southward migration of the Kamchatka nightingale 

 seems to be mainly coastwise and even largely at sea. Mr. Clark 

 (1910) says that the United States National Museum has specimens 

 of this larger, northern form from the following localities: "Hakodate, 

 Yezo (2) ; at sea off Kinkesan Light, Hondo ; Yaeyama Island ; Amoy, 

 China; Malate, Philippines. * * * During the first two weeks of 

 October, when we were about the southern Kurils and the eastern 

 coast of Yezo and Hondo, these birds were frequent visitors to the 

 ship. One was captured on October 10, several miles east of Kinkesan 

 Light, on the coast of Hondo." 



La Touche (1920), referring to northeastern Chihli, in northern 

 China, says: "The Common Ruby- throat is scarce at Chinwangtao in 



