18 NIDIFICATION AND MIGRATION OF VARIED THRUSH 



Brewer, may not have been natural, for that author remarks 

 that it probably had been flattened in transportation. This 

 nest was composed of " iine dry mosses and lichens impacted 

 together, intermingled with fragments of dry stems of grasses". 

 A second nest, obtained in Alaska by Dr. Minor, is described 

 by Dr. Brewer in the same connection : — " It is a much more 

 finished structure. Its base and periphery are composed of an 

 elaborate basket work of slender twigs. Within these is an 

 inner nest consisting of an interweaving of fine dry grasses 

 and long gray lichens." There is thus seen to be the usual 

 variation in the materials employed by tliis Thrush in the con- 

 struction of its nest ; but it is worthy of note that no mud 

 enters into its compositiou, contrary to the surmise of Audu- 

 bon that the structure might resemble that of the Eobin in 

 this respect. The position of the nest, at least in Alaska, 

 seems to be more constant; for, in the several cases which came 

 under Mr. Dall's observation, the nests were close to the river's 

 bank, in secluded places, and low in situation. The eggs are 

 about one and an eighth of an inch long by four-fifths broad ; 

 in color, they are light greenish blue, distinctly speckled with 

 dark umber-brown. 



Our knowledge of the geographical distribution of this species 

 was for many years restricted to the immediate region in which 

 the bird was discovered; it was subsequently extended east- 

 ward to Great Bear Lake and southward to Oregon. It is only 

 recently that information has been secured of such southward 

 extension of its habitat that I am enabled to include the species 

 among the birds of the Colorado Basin. Its presence in South- 

 ern California is attested by several observers. Mr. Xantus 

 procured it at Fort Tejon, and Professor Baird, in Lieutenant 

 Ives's Eeport of the Exploration of the Colorado, notes a speci- 

 men from Fort Yuma, which fixes the southernmost point on 

 record to date. But its presence so far south as this, and at 

 the same time at such slight elevation, is perhaps fortuitous; 

 certainly, neither Dr. Cooper nor myself nor any of the orni- 

 thologists who have latterly visited Arizona found it in this 

 Territory. In various portions of Middle California, however, 

 Dr. Cooper has observed the bird, and to some extent traced 

 its movements. He remarks that it merely visits the lower 

 country of California in winter, and that he had not seen it 

 himself south of the Coast range near Santa Clara, and even 

 there no later than April. " It is very probable, however," he 



