Tlic Robuii — Wigratory Thrush.. 14^ 



snminer and autumn. It arrives in Canada from the South in the beginning 

 of April, and while numbers of them remain with us, others extend their' 

 migi'ation to the far-nortli, where, as well as in Canada and the United. 

 States, they breed.. It received its common name from the first European 

 emigrants, from a fanciful resemblance to the Robin Red-breast of the British 

 Isles. This latter bird, however, is a member of a different genus, and in 

 systematic works on Ornithology, is called Erythaca rubecula, or Sylvia 

 Tubecula.. Our bird is not,, properly speaking, a Robin, but a Thrush. — 

 They spend the winter season in the southern countries of North America,, 

 but in summer, seem to spread over the whole continent. When we consider 

 that two or three pairs may be seen in an hour's walk anywhere in the country,, 

 and that they are equally numerous all over the vast regions where they 

 breed, some Mea may be formed of their numbers in the Southern States 

 in the winter, Vv^hen the whole race is gathered together in a small space. — 

 In Canada the largest flocks are to be seen late in the autumn, when the 

 northern birds are passing through on their way to the South. In the 

 Hudson's Bay Territories, Sir John Richardson says : — " The male is one of 

 the loudest and most assidious of the songsters that frequent the fur countries,, 

 beginning his chant immediately on his arrival. Within the arctic circle,, 

 the woods are silent in the bright light of noon-day ; but towards midnight 

 when the sun travels near the horizon, and the shades of the forest are 

 lengthened, the concert commences, and continues till six or seven in th& 

 morning." Its song consists of a number of loud warbHng notes, delivered' 

 a few at each breath.. Its call while feeding or hopping along the ground 

 or fences, cctosists of several e^sicnlaiiom,, pwee-sht,pwee-sht,pemp-pemp,utieTed 

 frequently, and vvith much spirit.. 



The following is Wilson's account of the bird as observed in the United.: 

 States ; — 



" The name of this bird bespeaks him a bird of passage, as are all the 

 different species of Thrushes we have ; but the one we are now describings 

 being more unsettled, and continually roving about from one region to ano- 

 ther, during fall and winter, seems particularly entitled to the appellation. — 

 Scarce a winter passes but innumerable thousands of them are seen in the 

 lower part of the whole Atlantic s-tates, from Nev/ Hampshire to Carolina,, 

 particularly in the neighbourhood of our towns; andj from the circumstance 

 of their leaving, during that season, the country to the north-west of the 

 great range of the Alleghany, from Maryland northward, it would appear 

 that they not only migrate from north to south, but from west to east, to 

 avoid the deep snows that generally prevail on these high regions, for at least 

 four months in the year. 



" The Robin builds a large nest, often on an apple-tree, plasters it in 

 the inside with mud, and lines it with hay or fine grass. The female lays 

 five eggs, of a beautiful sea-green. Their principal food is berries, worms, 

 and caterpillars. Of the first he prefers those of the sour gum, {Nijssa 

 sylvatica.) So fond are they of gum-berries, that, wherever there is one of 

 these trees covered with fruit, and flocks of Robins in the neighborhood^ the^ 



