, WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 311 



swallowing the food before he gives it to the young. 

 By the fifth day earthworms are given the nestlings 

 after being broken into small mouthfuls, and, as the days 

 go by, these worms as well as large insects are given 

 whole. The young Robins are voracious eaters, each one 

 consuming, one authority says, sixty-seven earthworms 

 daily. Certain it is that they double in weight every 

 twenty-four hours at first, and at the end of sixteen 

 days are nearly as heavy as the adults. Usually the 

 eighteenth day witnesses their first flight, but it is a 

 long time after that before they learn to forage for 

 themselves. 



All efforts to find a " Robin Roost " in California, such 

 as is common among the Eastern species, have failed and 

 I can obtain no definite information on this subject. It 

 may be this is one of the habits abandoned with their 

 entrance into the Land of Perpetual Summer. 



763. VARIED TWRVSH.—Ixoreus nwvius. 

 Family : The Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds, etc. 



Length: 9.00-10.00. 



Adult Male: Upper parts dark slate-color, feathers edged with light 

 gray ; wings banded with dark brown ; side of head black, bordered 

 above with brown line ; under parts light red-brown ; breast verging 

 to orange, and divided from throat by a black necklace. 



Adult Female : Similar to male, but much duller in coloring. 



Young : Like female, but duller and more or less spotted with light 

 brown. 



Geographical Distribution : Along Pacific from Alaska to Northern Cali- 

 fornia, south in winter as far as Lower California. 



Breeding Range : Eecorded at Humboldt, California, during the summer, 

 and may breed there. Breeds northward to Behring Sea. 



Breeding Season : July. 



