ERRATIC MOVEMENTS OF THE* VARIED THRUSH 19 



continues, "that some breed in the dark evergreen forests 

 toward the north, as they do near the mouth of the Columbia, 

 though I did not see any about the suminits of the Sierra 

 Nevada, in September, at lat. 39, elevation 7,000 feet. In 

 October, they begin to come down to the valleys, and are quite 

 common in winter near San Francisco." 



To the foregoing indication of the normal range of the species, 

 namely, along the whole Pacific region from Bering's Straits to 

 Southern California, I have only to add the record of its 

 singular wanderings ; for the Varied Thrush, like the Even- 

 ing Grosbeak, Lark Finch, Arkansan and Fork- tailed Fly- 

 catchers, and some other distinctively western birds, has occa- 

 sionally crossed the continent. The earliest instance of such 

 erratic movement which has come to my knowledge is that 

 given by Dr. Samuel Cabot, who records the capture of a speci- 

 men in New Jersey. This individual, having been secured in 

 the Boston market, has since been more than once mentioned in 

 published records as having occurred at or near Boston ; but, 

 as Dr. Cabot states explicitly, it was shot in New Jersey. 

 Nevertheless, the Varied Thrush has actually appeared in 

 Massachusetts, and not far from Boston either; a specimen 

 having been taken in December, 1864, at Ipswich, Mass., as 

 recorded by Mr. Allen, Mr. Mayuard, Dr. Brewer, and myself, 

 in our several papers above cited, all of which refer to this 

 single occurrence. This individual is said to be now preserved 

 in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History. Mr. 

 George N. Lawrence, in his List of the Birds of New York, 

 Long and Staten Islands, marks the Varied Thrush as "rare", 

 without further comment; and, in Baird, Brewer, and Eidg- 

 way's work, a Long Island specimen is said to be in Mr. Law- 

 rence's cabinet. On writing to Mr. Lawrence for the particu- 

 lars of this case, I am favored with the following items: 

 " Besides Cabot's New Jersey example, two others have been 

 procured near New York city one at Isjip, Long Island, shot in 

 the fall, in company with robins, and now in the possession of the 

 person who secured it, the other at Hoboken, New Jersey. Both 

 were received in the flesh by Mr. J. Akhurst, to be mounted f 

 the Hoboken one was subsequently destroyed by fire in the 

 taxidermist's workshop. All the specimens in my own cabinet 

 came from the Pacific side." 



Thus it appears that there have been four authentic instances 

 of the occurrence of the Varied Thrush on the Atlantic sea- 



