30 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Eocky Mountains, near the Columbia Eiver, in October. In the winter it 

 became still more numerous, passing the season in that region as well as in 

 more southern localities, associating with the robin. From this bird it may 

 be readily distinguished by the difference of its notes, which are louder, 

 sharper, and delivered with greater rapidity. In the spring, before leaving 

 for their breeding-places, they are described as having a very sweet warljle. 



On the Columbia Eiver they were not resident, arriving there in October, 

 continuing throughout the winter, and leaving early in May. During their 

 stay they moved through the forest in small flocks, frequenting low trees, 

 and lor the most part keeping perfect silence. They were timorous and diffi- 

 cult of approach. 



Its habits are said to resemble those of the robin, but in some of them 

 the descriptions given appear to correspond more with those of the Fieldfares 

 and Eedwings of Europe. Like those species it is a summer resident of 

 high northern latitudes, affects secluded forests and thickets bordering upon 

 streams, and is found only in unfrequented localities. 



Dr. Cooper was of the opinion that a few of these thrushes remained in 

 Washington Territory throughout the summer, as he frequently met with 

 them in the dark spruce forests of that region as late as June and July. 

 He describes the song as consisting of Ave or six notes in a minor key, and 

 in a scale regularly descending. It was heard continually throughout the 

 summer, among the tops of the trees, but only in the densest forests. Dr. 

 Suckley states that after a fall of snow they would be found along the sandy 

 beaches near the salt water, where they were both abundant and tame. We 

 are indebted to Mr. W. H. Dall for our first authentic knowledge of its 

 nest and eggs. The former measures 6 inches in diameter with a depth of 

 2| inches. It has but a very slight depression, apparently not more than 

 half an inch in depth. The original shape of the nest had, however, been 

 somewhat flattened in transportation. The materials of which it was com- 

 posed were fine dry mosses and lichens impacted together, intermingled with 

 fragments of dry stems of grasses. 



A nest of this thrush obtained by Dr. Minor, in Alaska, is a much more 

 finished structure. Its base and periphery are composed of an elaborate 

 basket-work of slender twigs. Within these is an inner nest consisting of 

 an interweaving of fine dry grasses and long gray lichens. 



The eggs in size, shape, ground color, and markings are not distinguishable 

 from those of the Turdus musicus of Europe. They measure 1.13 inches in 

 length by .80 in breadth, are of a light blue with a greenish shading, almost 

 exactly similar to the ground color of the T. migratorius. They are very 

 distinctly marked and spotted with a dark umber-brown approaching almost 

 to blackness. 



Mr. Dall informs us that the nest found by him was built in a willow 

 bush, about two feet from the ground, and on the top of a large mass of 

 rubbish lodged there by some previous inundation. Other nests of the 



