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n ii 



402 



THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 



Early in September, when the nesting season is over, Robins gather 

 in large flocks, and from this time until their departure for the south 

 roam about the country in search of food, taking in turn wild cher- 

 ries, dogwood and cedar berries. 



Tlui songs and call-notes of the Robin, while well known to every 

 one, are in reality understood l)y no one, and offer excellent subjects 

 for the student of bird language. Its notes express interrogation, sus- 

 picion, alarm, caution, and it signals to its companions to take wing; 

 indeed, few of our birds have a more extended vocabulary. 



The Varied Tiirish (703. lAxpf/'oric/i/a no via), a species of western 

 North Americu, has becu recorded Iroiii Massachusetts, Long Island, and 

 New Jersey. 



765« SaxicolaoeiUinthe (Z/»n.). Wueateah; Stone-chat. AJ. S. 

 — Upper parts light gray ; Ibrelioad and upi>er tail-coverts white ; cheeks and 

 wings black; the basal two thirds of the tail white, the end black; under 

 parts whitish, more or less washed with butty. Ad. 9. — Similar, but duller, 

 the black grayer, the white parts more butty. Ad. in ui titer and //«. — Upper 

 parts cinnamon-brown, wings edged with lighter; upper tail-coverts and base 

 of the tail white ; end of the tail black, tipped with butty ; under parts ochra- 

 ceous-buff. L., 6-25 ; W., 4-00 ; T., 2-20 ; B., -50. 



Range. — " Europe, Nortli Africa. Asia, .\laska, Greenland, and Labrador, 

 straggling south to Nova Scotia, Maine, Long Lsland, and the Bermudas " 

 (A. O. U.). 



JSest, of moss and grasses, usually in crevices among rocks. E(j<js, four to 

 seven, bluish white, "81 x -bSi. 



This European species is a common summer resident in Greenland. 

 It has been found nesting in Labrador, and there is evidence of its 

 having bred at Godbout, Province of Quebec (see Merriam, Auk, ii, 

 1885, p. 305 ; Comeau, ibid., rii, 1890, p. 294). South of these points 

 it is of accidental occurrence. 



Mr. Saunders writes : " From early spring onward the Wheatear 

 is to be seen, jerking its white tail as it flits along, uttering its sharp 

 chnck, chark, on open downs, warrens, and the poorer land; ascendip'j 

 the mountains almost to the highest sumnuts. . . . 



"The song of the male is rather pretty, and the bird also displays 

 considerable powers of imitating other species." 



766. Sialia Sialis (Linn.). Br.rEniRn. (See Figs. 2 and 59, a.) 

 Ad. i.— I'pper parts, wings, and tail bright blue, tij)ped with rusty in the 

 fall ; throat, breast, and sides dull ciiuiamon-rufous ; belly white. Ad. 9 . — 

 Upper parts with a grayish tinge ; throat, breast, and sides paler. Youmj in 

 nextling plumu(je.—\\w\i spotted with whitish; tJie breast feathers margined 

 with fuscous, "l., 7-01 ; W., 3-113; T., 2-68; B., -47. 



/("aH^/f.— United States; breeds from the Gulf States to Manitoba and 



