BIRDS OF NEW YORK 529 



Planesticus migratorius migratorius (Linnaeus) 



Robin 



Plate 106 



Turdus migratorius Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. 1766. 1:292 

 Merula migratoria DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 70, fig. 83 

 Planesticus migratorius migratorius A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 

 1910. p. 363. No. 761 

 planesticus, poorly formed from Lat., planus, a plain, the Robin being a plains bird; 

 migratorius, Lat., migratory 



Description. Upper parts slate color more or less tinged with olive 

 brown; the head black; small white spot above, below and in front of the 

 eye; the throat largely white streaked with blackish; breast and nearly 

 all the under parts reddish brown or rufous; the lower abdomen white; 

 tail and wings blackish; the outer tail feathers tipped with white. Female: 

 Considerably duller than the male, the breast sometimes almost ocherous 

 brown. Young: Spotted above with whitish; under parts whitish tinged 

 with cinnamon on the sides and spotted with black. 



Length 10 inches; extent 16; wing 5-5.5; tail 4-4.5; bill .8; tarsus 1.25. 



Distribution. Breeds from northwestern Alaska; northern Mackenzie, 

 northern Ungava and Newfoundland south to central Alberta, south- 

 eastern Wyoming, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and 

 along the Alleghanies to North Carolina; winters from Kansas, the Ohio 

 valley and New Jersey, to the gulf coast, and irregularly farther north. 

 In New York the Robin is an abundant summer resident in all portions 

 of the State, being probably our most familiar native bird and known 

 more unmistakably than the English sparrow, the Song sparrow or the 

 Chippy. It has adapted itself to civilized conditions and prefers to nest 

 near the habitations of man. It does still frequent the woods, however, 

 to a considerable extent, and I have found it breeding in the slashings 

 of the Adirondack forest miles from any settler's house and in the woods 

 near the lumber camp or the open summer camps of tourists in all portions 

 of the North Woods. There can be little doubt that the Robin is and will 

 remain our most dominant native species. The spring migration of the 

 Robin begins often as early as the 15th of February in southeastern New 



