ees OH BERING SHA AND THE 
MAC LEIC OCH AN. 
TURDIDA. THRUSHES. 
HYLOCICHLA ALICIZ Baird. 
(1.) THE GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. 
in middle latitudes where our acquaintance is made with this bird we associate it with damp 
woodlands and sheltered glens, and it would seem almost incongruous to one familiar with it in 
such surroundings to look for it as an inhabitant of the barren stretches of arctic lands where for 
many miles not a tree raises its shaft. Such is its northern home, however, and throughout the 
entire arctic region north of Hudson’s Bay to Bering Strait and across into Kamtchatka the bird 
is found in a greater portion of this range as an extremely abundant species. Wherever clumps 
of dwarf willows or alder have gained a foothold along the sterile slopes and hillsides in the north, 
a pair or more of these wanderers may be looked for. Along the entire Bering Sea coast of Alaska, 
and north around the shores of Kotzebue Sound, it is numerous among the many alder bushes 
found on these shores, and the record of the bird from Kamtchatka renders certain its presence on 
the adjoining shores of Northeastern Siberia. It is the most northern species of thrush found in 
America and its breeding range is limited only by the absence of a busa in which to place its nest. 
It passes by the groves and farms of the Northern States just as the buds are swelling and the 
warm, misty rains of spring are quickening into life the sleeping seeds and rootlets; filled with 
buoyant exultation it pauses now and then to pour forth those strange but pleasing cadences which 
once heard in their full sweetness will never be forgotten. Butit has no time to tarry, and ere long 
it is already far on its way to the north. The strange, wild song which arose but a short time 
since in pleasant woodland spots and quiet nooks in southern groves is now heard by wandering 
Indians who seek their summer fishing-grounds by the banks of northern streams. Yet a little 
later and it troops in abundance near to the shores of the Arctic, where the Mackenzie and other 
rivers pour their spring floods into the icy sea. Down the Yukon these birds pass, using the 
densely bush-grown bank of the river as their highway, raising now and then their song which finds 
here fittest surroundings. Reaching the mouth of the Yukon, many wander along the coast of 
Bering Sea to the north, and some are said to cross the straits. 
They have now reached their summer homes, ani in sheltered thickets among many of their 
kind they choose their mates and prepare for rearing their young. Ere long their joyous song is 
heard no more, but instead the sprightly bird is busily engaged in caring for its gaping brood. In 
the course of time the young are fledged, and now the unwary birds fall an‘easy prey to the untried 
bows of the native boys, who follow them into their bushy coverts and slay many a helpless victim 
with their blunt-pointed arrows. The skins of the birds killed by the boys are kept till winter and 
hung in rows as trophies of the young hunters’ skill, to be brought out at the great midwinter hunt- 
ing festival. 
As the cold storms of autumn arise the birds, which have escaped the various dangers, and 
which are easily affected by cold prepare to return, and retracing their way along the course 
pursued in spring they pass again to the south, now shy and silent, awakening the echoes no longer 
with joyous melody, but apparently imbued with the saddening spirit of autumn they pass quickly 
by and are gone. ; 
H. Ex. 105——8 57 
