THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 255 



The Blackbird is a resident breeding bird in the whole of 

 Europe and North Africa ; in Scandinavia it approaches the circum- 

 polar circle. 



78. American Robin [WANDERDROSSEL]. 

 TURDUS MIGRATORIUS. 



Turdus migratorius. Naumann, xiii. 336. 



Migratory Thrush. Audubon, Syn. of the Birds of North America, 89. 



Merle erratique. Temminck, Manuel, iii. 91. 



A very fine old bird found lying on the grass near the light- 

 house on the morning of the 14th of October 1874, having un- 

 doubtedly killed itself against the glasses, furnishes the sole instance 

 of the occurrence of this species in Heligoland. The breast of this 

 bird was of a beautiful reddish-brown colour ; the throat pure 

 white, with black stripes. Unfortunately, I did not obtain it for my 

 collection. 



There occurred in that year a very powerful migration of species 

 from the far East; on the llth of October a Sylvia superciliosa, 

 and on the 13th and 14th an example of Emberiza pusilla were 

 killed. Alauda alpestris occurred in large quantities in flights of 

 hundreds until the end of the month. On the 27th of April of 

 the same year also though this has no connection with the 

 species at present under consideration I obtained the first and 

 only example of Alauda tatarica, a female, which has ever been 

 shot here. The above-mentioned example of this species may, in 

 the present instance, have reached Heligoland via Asia, having 

 crossed over to the latter continent from North America along the 

 Aleutian group of islands ; the fact of the simultaneous occurrence 

 of the other species mentioned above, as well as the time of the 

 year at which it was met with, strongly support the view of its 

 pursuing an east-to-west line of migration. 



According to Dalgleish's investigations (Occurrences of North 

 American Birds in Europe, Bullet, of Nuttall Club, v. 1880), this 

 Thrush has been met with in Europe on five occasions : once in the 

 bird-market at Berlin, the example being preserved in the Radzi- 

 will Collection ; twice in the bird-market at Vienna, and once in 

 Bohemia; two of these latter examples are preserved in the 

 Imperial and Royal Museum in Vienna ; finally, one example was 

 caught near Dover in the spring of 1876. 



The breeding range of this species extends over the whole of 

 North America. 



