231 

 Genus — Planesticus. American Robins. 



761. American Robin, pr. — lb mbblb d'am£riqoe. Planesticus migratoriua. 

 L, 10. Plate L A. 



Distinctions. The Robin is too distinctly marked and well known to require special 

 description. 



Field Marks. The Robin is recognizable by those acquainted with the species, at 

 great distances, when no colour is visible, by its outline, carriage, and manner of flight. 



Nesting. Frequently in fruit or shade trees or about buildings, in nest of coarse 

 grasses, leaves, rootlets, etc., with an inner wall of mud lined with fine grasses. 



Distribution. As a species all North America, north to tree limits. The Eastern 

 Robin covers all Canada overlapping with the western form on the Pacific coast. 



SUBSPECIES. The Robin is divided into three Bubspecies of which the Eastern 

 Robin, the type form, is the only eastern Canadian representative. 



The Robin has more intimate associations with man than perhaps 

 any other bird. Its cheery voice is the harbinger of spring. Its song is 

 the first heard in the morning and the last at night, and in the autumn 

 when it has stripped the rowan tree of its last berry, and has disappeared 

 we know that winter is upon us. Though named after a famous Old World 

 bird, it only very superficially resembles the Robin Red-breast of England. 

 The only points of resemblance are its red breast and confiding habits. 



Probably the worst enemy of the Robin is the household cat. Nesting 

 in readily accessible places young Robins are subject to many disturb- 

 ances, often leave the nest before they are able to fend for themselves 

 and so fall prey to the cat. 



The spotted breast of the young Robin indicates its descent from 

 a spotted ancestor and its relationship to the Thrushes of the previous 

 genus. In fact the young of most of the members of the family have 

 spotted breasts. 



Economic Status. Though the Robin is an efficient aid to the agri- 

 culturist, its fondness for fruit occasionally gets it into trouble with the 

 small fruit raiser. Forty-two per cent of its food is animal, mostly insects, 

 the remainder is composed largely of berries and other soft small fruits 

 of which little more than 4 per cent is cultivated fruit. 



Genus — Oenanthe. Wheatear. 



765. Wheatear. fb. — le traquet motteux. Oenanthe oenanthe. L, 7-01. A 

 titlark-like bird, light grey above, white below, warmed with buff colour on throat: a 

 black band through the eye and a white rump. The female and juvenile are similar 

 but duller and more evenly buff coloured. 



Distinctions. The conspicuous and extensive white rump with the general colorations 

 given above are distinctive. 



Field Marks. With its showy white rump the bird looks like a partly albino Titlark. 



SUBSPECIES. The subspecies of Wheatear that occurs in eastern Canada is the 

 Greenland Wheatear 0. o. leucorhoa. 



This is a European bird of regular occurrence in Greenland and 

 perhaps in the adjacent parts of New Quebec but of only casual or acci- 

 dental occurrence elsewhere in Canada. 



