240 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



feathers with a whitish spot at tip of inner web (largest 

 on the outside feathers) ; a conspicuous stripe above 

 ears of tawny, extending from middle of upper eyelid 

 (sometimes from above lores) to nape; lores below 

 eyes and sides of head uniform slate-black; cheeks, 

 chin, throat, and breast uniform taivny, the chest crossed 

 by rarely interrupted band of slate-black, the feathers 

 sometimes margined with a more slaty hue ; sides and 

 flanks similar in color to breast but paler, the feathers 

 broadly margined with olivaceous slate-gray; abdomen, 

 white; under tail-coverts brownish-slate-gray basally, 

 extensively white terminally, the white usually sutifuseJ 

 with tawny ; under wing-coverts white basally, broadly 

 slate-gray terminally; inner webs of wing feather.-, 

 crossed by a broad basal band of pale buffy ; bill, 

 brownish-black; iris, brown. Adult Female; Aluch 

 duller in coloration than the adult male ; upper parts 

 varying from olivaceous slate-gray to brownish-olive 

 (still browner on crown) ; the markings on wings and 

 tail as in the male; tawny color of under parts paler; 

 the band across chest indistinct and never (?) uniform 

 blackish or slate color — usually with feathers dusky 



centrally (more or less concealed), margined with dull 

 buffy-grayish ; white of rear under parts usually (?) 

 relatively more extended than in male. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest; Placed in low bushes 

 always on or near the banks of a stream; it is rather 

 large for the bird; the foundation is a carefully con- 

 structed arrangement of interlaced slender twigs; 

 upon this base is erected the main structure of closely 

 interwoven fine grasses, moss and long gray lichens. 

 Eggs : Usually 4, pale greenish-blue, sparsely spotted 

 with dark umber-brown. 



Distribution. — Western North America ; breeding 

 from northern California, northward to the limit of 

 spruce forests in northern Alaska ; the eastern breeding 

 limit is unascertained, but probably includes the spruce 

 forests of the interior mountain districts, at least in 

 British Columbia, possibly to northern Idaho and Mon- 

 tana ; wintering from Kodiak Island southward to 

 southern California (as far as Colorado River), and 

 occurring during migration in Montana (Coeur d'Alene 

 Mountains) and straggling eastward to Kansas, New 

 Jersey. New York, and Massachusetts. 



Drawing by R. Bruce Horsfall 



VARIED THRUSH (i nat. size) 

 Act like Robins, but dressed differently 



Frequently we have inquiries from people as 

 to a strange bird that comes in the midst of 

 winter down into onr western Oregon valleys. It 

 looks and acts like an ordinary Robin, but its 

 dress is so changed from this well-known bird. 



The Varied Thrush, Alaska Robin, or Oregon 

 Robin, as it is sometimes called, lives back in the 

 mountains in the wilder sections where the tim- 

 ber is most dense. The bird has a weird and 

 mysterious note, a sort of a monotone song that 

 can be imitated by tising a combination whistle 



and voice note. I have never heard any different 

 song or note from this bird except one summer 

 when we were traveling through the coast moun- 

 tains of Oregon when a young bird flew along 

 the bank by a wood road. We gave chase and 

 caught it. But the moment I closed my hand 

 on the bird, it cried out in alarm and down 

 swooped a mother Varied Thrush. She was 

 frantic. She let out a variety of exclama- 

 tory notes and phrases such as T had never heard 

 in the vocabularv of any bird. It was a surprise 



