THRUSHES 



TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE 

 Myadestes townsendi (.■hidiiboii) 



General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Phimage. 

 brownish-gray, paler below. Bill, .short and broad : 

 wings, moderately long, rounded : tail, about the same 

 length as wing, double rounded : legs, short and slender. 



Color. — Above, plain brownish-gray, the under parts 

 similar but sli,ghtly paler, especially on chin, throat, 

 and abdomen ; the under tail-coverts broadly but rather 

 indistinctly tipped with dull white ; an eye-ring of dull 

 white; lores, dusky: wings, dark grayish-brown, witli 

 lighter brownish-gray edgings, the secondaries and 

 inner primaries buff basally (mostly hidden by greater 

 and primary coverts), and with a broad dusky space 

 intervening between this buffy portion and the grayish- 

 edged terminal portion; inner quills margined terminally 

 with dull white (except in worn plumage); middle 

 pair of tail-feathers concolor with back, or the outer- 

 most with terminal half of outer web dull white, the 

 inner web broadly tipped with wliite, this white extend- 

 ing along shaft for a considerable distance, the second 

 feather with a similar but much smaller white tip ; 

 under wing-coverts mixed pale brownish-gray and dull 

 white: under surface of wing feathers, showing an 



oblique basal and subbasal band of buff; bill, black: 

 iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xe.st: On the ground, or on a 

 log or stump, or in rubbish: often in a bank-niche by 

 a stream or sometimes in a rocky crevice; rather large 

 and loosely made of sticks, grasses, or pine-needles 

 and weed stalks; on this large foundation is placed 

 the real nest, made of finer bits of similar material, 

 but the whole carelessly and loosely constructed ; the 

 mass of materia! hanging below frequently betrays the 

 nest, especially when it is placed among rocks. Eggs ; 

 3 til (1, bluish-white, freckled with reddish-brown. 



Distribution. — Mountain districts of western North 

 .America; breeding (in pine forests) from ."Maska 

 (heights above Bennett; 1500 feet above Caribou 

 Crossing; Lake Lebarge; Yukon River, 20 miles above 

 Circle) and Northwest Territory (Miles Canon; Sem- 

 enow Hills) and from the coast ranges to the Black 

 Hills of North Dakota and western Texas south to 

 Mexico ; wintering from Oregon, Montana, etc., south- 

 ward ; straggling, in autumn or winter, to Kansas, 

 Nebraska and nortliwestern Illinois. 



Along: the wooded heigl.'ts of tlie western 

 mountains, the Townsend's Solitaire has its 

 abode. Of all the North .American Thrushes it 

 is the loftiest dweller. Along the steep moun- 

 tain slopes, where streams from melting snows 



dash downward to join the river below, this 

 bird may be found. At times one may come 

 upon it running along the ground over bowlders 

 and logs in a manner very siiriilar to that of the 

 Robin. It is in such places that the nest of twigs 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE ( ; nat. size) 

 A sweet and elusive singer in the mountain solitudes 



