TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE 317 



spring, when it passes in May. During the autumn passage it is very 

 abundant, and passes then from about the 10th of September to the 

 end of that month." 



Shaw (1936) reports it as passing Hopei Province in September and 

 even in the first part of October. 



Winter. — Referring to the Kamchatka nightingale in its winter home 

 in the Philippines, John Whitehead (1899) writes: 



This beautiful migrant from the north is common in the highlands of Luzon, 

 being met with from the coast-line up to the summit of the highest mountains. 

 It is shy and easily alarmed, passing most of its time in the thick tangled growth, 

 where pursuit is almost impossible. I have seen this species on the slopes of 

 Monte Dulungan, in Mindoro, and in Negros (within a few yards) in a native 

 garden. At Cape Engano, in the month of May (30th), a female of this species 

 flew into my tent and settled for a moment on one of my collecting-boxes; the birds 

 were then migrating north, and were common in some low plants amongst the 

 seadrift. The natives call this bird "Kerin," a word which resembles its note, but 

 it also has an alarm-cry, not unlike the croak of a frog. It is a frequenter in 

 North Luzon of the overgrown banks of rocky streams, and is decidedly more 

 active after sunset, flying about after dark, when its note "kerin" may be heard. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Contributed by Bernard William Tucker 



Breeding range. — C. c. camtschatkensis breeds in Kamschatka and 

 the Kurile Islands. The typical race ranges from the Altai to the 

 Ussuri region, southward to Manchuria and Transbaikalia, northward 

 to about the Arctic Circle in Yakutsk and the Yenisei region, and 

 sporadically in western Siberia and west to Perm; also north China 

 (Kansu, northern Szechwan). 



Winter range. — India, Tenasserim, South China, Hainan, Formosa, 

 the Riu-Kiu Islands, and the Philippines. On passage in Japan. 



Casual records. — Ufa and Orenburg Governments in Russia, 

 Caucasus, south France, Italy. 



MYADESTES TOWNSENDI (Audubon) 



TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE 



HABITS 



Audubon (1840) named and figured this rather puzzling bird from 

 a single female obtained by that pioneer naturalist J. K. Townsend 

 near the Columbia River; this one specimen remained for a long time 

 unique. It is now known to have a wide distribution in the mountain 

 regions of the West, from central eastern Alaska and southwestern 

 Mackenzie to southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. 



Its status has at last been fixed as a member of the thrush family, 

 though at first glance it would hardly seem to belong there. It looks 



