THRUSHES. 7 



was found breeding abundantly. It was also found in large num- 

 bers on the Anderson River, but was rare on the Yukon, as well as 

 at Great Slave Lake, occurring there only as a bird of passage to 

 or from more northern breeding grounds. '••' '•• * 



This thrush is a regular visitant to Massachusetts, both in its 

 spring and in its fall migration. It arrives from about the first to 

 the middle of May, and apparently remains about a week. * » * 

 The nests measure about 4 inches in diameter and 2^ in height. 

 The cavity is 2 inches deep, and its diameter 2)^ inches. They 

 are usually compact for the nest of a thrush, and are composed 

 chiefly of an elaborate interweaving of fine sedges, leaves, stems 

 of the more delicate Eqidsetacetv , dry grasses, strips of fine bark and 

 decayed leaves, the whole intermingled with the paniculated in- 

 florescence of grasses. There is little or no lining other than these 

 materials. These nests were all found, with but few exceptions, 

 on the branches of low trees, from two to seven feet from the 

 ground. In a few exceptional cases the nests were built on the 

 ground. 



Occasionally nests of this species are found constructed with the 

 base and sides of solid mud, as with the common Robin. In these, 

 as also in some other cases, their nests are usually found on or near 

 the ground. * *' * The eggs were usuaily four in 



number. Their color is either a deep green tint, or green slightly 

 tinged with blue ; and they are marked with spots of russet and 

 yellowish-brown, varying both in size and frequency. Their mean 

 length is .92 of an inch, and the mean breadth .64." — Baird, 

 Brewer and Ridgway's N. A. Birds, vol. i, pp. 12, 13. 



4. HYLOCICHLA USTULATA. 



RUSSET-BACKED THRUSH. 



*'So far as we are aware, this thrush has a very limited distribu- 

 tion, being mainly restricted to the Pacific coast region from 

 California to Alaska, in the breeding season, though migrating 

 southward in winter to Guatemala. "■•• * * Dr. Cooper found its nests 

 with eggs about the middle of June. These were most usually 

 built on a small horizontal branch, and were very strongly con- 

 structed of twigs, grasses, roots and leaves, usually covered on the 

 outside entirely with the bright green Hyptiwji mosses peculiar to 



