36 VARIED THRUSH. 
Several investigators have found the Varied Thrush common in Alaska. There the 
’ first nests were discovered by Dall and Minor. The former found the structure at 
Nulato as early as May 22nd. It was built in a willow-shrub about two feet from the 
ground, on a mass of débris. Lum fotind other nests in Washington. According to his 
statements the bird breeds there in June, and builds its nest on the lowlands which are’ 
covered with water during the winter but are dry during the summer months. The 
nest is often found in the branches of a prostrated tree or in a small shrub, usually not 
more than from three to six feet from the ground. It is built of delicate mosses, plant- 
stems, and lichens, but mud seems not to be used in its construction. The eggs are 
greenish blue, distin¢tly spotted with dark umber-brown. In the dense lowland woods 
of Washington the Varied Thrush’s beautiful song may be heard from early morning 
until late in the evening. 
At Nulato (Alaska) this bird arrives about the middle of May and prefers for its 
home bushy river-banks in secluded places. Doubtless it breeds in large numbers in the 
northwestern parts of British America. Sir John Richardson found it near Fort Frank- 
lin on the 65th parallel, and it is probably an abundant summer resident on the shores 
of the Great Slave Lake and on the Mackenzie River. In winter it is common near San 
Francisco and also in southern California. Our fine picture of the bird was painted 
from a specimen which I received from Portland, Oregon. 
In Germany, where many of our birds are highly prized as cage-pets, this Thrush 
seems to be entirely unknown. 
NAMES: Variep TurusH, Varied Robin (Ridgway), Columbia Robin (Lewis and Clarke), Thrash-like Mock- 
bird (Swains.), Spotted Thrush (Lath.), Spotted Robin, Painted Robin and Golden Robin of the settlers. 
—Germ. Buntdrossel (Brehm), Columbia Robin, Gold- und Alaskadrossel. 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: HESPEROCICHLA NAEVIA Rivew. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. IT], 1880, 166. Turdus 
naevius Gmel. (1788), Vieill., Aud., etc. ” 
DESCRIPTION: Male above dark slate-colored; ‘‘wings and tail blackish with more or less of plumbeous or 
olive shade; wing coverts, greater and lesser, tipped with orange-brown, forming two cross-bars”; 
a broad band or collar across the breast blackish. Stripe behind the eye, lower eyelid and under 
parts rich orange-brown; vent and crissum white, tinged more or less with ochraceous. Bill black.— 
Female much paler, the upper parts and the collar across the breast grayish brown.— Young similar 
to female, but the collar much less distin and more or less broken by dark spottings.— Length 9.50 
1o 10 inches, About the size and form of the Robin, but the black collar and the orange wing-markings 
distinguish it at a glance. (For more detailed descriptions see Dr. Elliott Coues’ ‘Key to the North 
American Birds,” and Prof. Robert Ridgway’s ‘‘Manual of North American Birds,” both works that 
should be in the hands of every one who is interested in the scientific part of American ornithology.) 
