282 USEFUL BIRDS. 



CHAPTER Vm. 



BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 

 THRUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES. 



The food of Thrushes is alluded to on p. 155, and the 

 woodland Thrushes are described on the pages following it. 



Robin. 



Planesticus migratorius migratorius. 

 Length. — Nine to ten inches. 

 Adult Male. — Above, darlc gray, olive tinged, browner on wings; head and tail 



blackish, with white marks ; breast ruddy, varying to bay ; chin and lower 



tail coverts white ; throat white, with black spots. 

 Adult Female. — Similar, but duller ; head and breast paler. 

 Young. — Breast spotted with blackish. 

 Nest. — Of grass and mud, on tree, wall, building, or bank. 

 Eggs. — Greenish-blue ; rarely spotted. 

 Season. — Resident, but rarest in late December and early January. 



This large Thrush was named the Eobin by the early 

 settlers of Massachusetts, because it resembled somewhat in 

 color the little Red-breasted Robin of England. Ornithol- 

 ogists since then have called it 

 the Migratory Thrush and the Red- 

 breasted Thrush, but in vain ; thus 

 custom perpetuates error. 



The Robin, as it is now called 

 everywhere, is the most genei'ally 

 common bird in Massachusetts. Its 

 Fig. 125 -Robin, about one- habit of foraging On the ground in 

 halt natural si.e. gardens and fields, its fondness for 



fruit, its custom of seeking the vicinity of human dwellings, 

 lawns, gardens, and cultivated fields, all have resulted in its 

 increasing in numbers. As the forests were cleared away, 

 the planting of fruit trees furnished it food and nesting 

 places ; and so the Robin became part and parcel of our rural 

 civilization. It nests by preference in an apple tree near 

 farm buildings, but almost any nesting site will do, from a 



