THRUSHES. 11 



■^he eggs of the Robin are usually five, sometimes six in number 

 and of a bright greenish-blue color. Their average measurement 

 is 1.18 by .81. 



Ta. MERULA MIGRATORIA PROPINQUA. 



WESTERN ROBIN. *- 



8. MERULA CONFINIS. 



SAINT LUCAS ROBIN. '- 



9. HESPEROCICHLA N^VIA. 



VARIED ROBIN. 



"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 de- 

 pression, 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 composed 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 compos- 

 ed 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 Turdtis musiais 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. niigratoriiis. 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 upon the top 

 of a large mass of rubbish lodged there by some previous inunda- 

 tion. Other nests of the same species were met with in several 

 places between Fort Yukon and Nulato, alv/ays on or near a river 

 bank and in low secluded localities." — Baird, Brewer and Ridg- 

 way's N. a. Birds, vol. i, p. 30. 



