104



Mr. Hubert D. Asteey,



“and pleasing characteristics. No lover of sweet sounds can

“have failed to notice it, and, having once known its source, no

“one can fail to recognise it when heard again. The melody is

“one of great sweetness and power, and consists of several parts,

“ the last note of which resembles the tinkling of a small bell,

“ and seems to leave the conclusion suspended. Each part of its

“song seems sweeter and richer than the preceding.”


The nest of this Thrush is a firm compact structure,

chiefly composed of decaying deciduous leaves, closely packed

together. They are strengthened by an intermingling of a few

dry twigs, and the whole is lined with fine roots and dry grasses *

sometimes mud is used for the intermediate lining.


In my aviaries this Thrush moves about on the ground in

a very similar manner to the English Song Thrush, cocking its

head on one side to listen for the movements of a worm and then

hopping off to repeat the same manoeuvre elsewhere. It is

smaller than our bird, being 7.5 inches in total length.


It is curious that those birds which are tamest and most

confiding in their wild state are oftentimes by no means so trust¬

ful in captivity ; whilst those that prefer to shun the habitations

of mankind, seeking the solitudes of nature’s recesses, quickly

lose their timidity. Such is the case with the three Thrushes

about which I have written, whilst the fourth species, the Ameri¬

can ‘Robin,’ which everywhere in the United States and Canada

is as familiar a bird as our Blackbird and Song Thrush, seems

inclined to act as do his English cousins, who when taken from

their wild state are by no means particularly tameable for some

time after their capture. Not that I would infer that the Ameri¬

can Robin is truly resentful and irreconcilable, but he seems at

first to be less completely fearless than his confreres of the more

untrodden ways.


The American Robin or Red-breasted Thrush (T.

migratori-iis) is very widely distributed in North America, breed¬

ing from Mexico to Alaska and Hudson’s Bay.


The pilgrim fathers of Massachusetts called this Thrush

the Robin, or Robin Redbreast, because it reminded them of the

beloved and familiar bird of their English homes. No doubt one

of the first birds they saw was this Thrush with his breast very



