 TURDUS PROPINQUUS (Бауи). 
WESTERN RED-BREASTED THRUSH. 
Turdus migratorius, auct. (nec L.: ex Amer. Boreali occidentali et Mexico). 
Turdus propinquus, Ridgway, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, ii. p. 9 (1877). 
Turdus migratorius, a. propinquus, Belding, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 395 (1879). 
Turdus migratorius, var. propinquus, Belding, loc. cit. 
Merula migratoria propinqua, Ridgw. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iii. p. 166 (1880). 
v 
T. similis T. migratorio, sed rectrice extimá vix vel minim? albo terminatá. 
This is a tolerably well-marked race of the American Robin, and, as a rule, can be easily distin- 
guished by the entire absence of any white spot at the end of the outer tail-feather. Occasionally 
specimens are procured which have the outer tail-feather slightly fringed with white to a greater or 
less extent, but never approaching the well-marked white tip of true 7. migratorius. That this 
indication of a white fringe is due in many cases to hybridization between the eastern and western 
races, I have no doubt, as the two forms meet together in some of their winter-haunts, and doubtless 
often pair and return thus to their northern breeding-places. А typical eastern bird and a typical 
western bird are perfectly recognizable, and the occasional intermediate specimens are probably the 
result of interbreeding. I do not find the other character given by Mr. Ridgway, viz. the absence of 
black mottling on the back in 7. propinquus, to be constant. According to the time of year this black 
mottling is pronounced or absent in both races, being, in fact, a sign of the breeding-plumage, and 
it is present in many specimens of typical T. propinquus, though never to the same extent perhaps as 
in 7. migratorius. 
The range of Turdus propinquus is thus given by Mr. Ridgway in the second edition of his 
‘Manual’ :—“ Western United States north to British Columbia, east to, and including, Rocky 
Mountains, south over tablelands of Mexico." 
In British Columbia the Western Robin is an abundant resident, according to Mr. John Fannin, 
who says that *the bulk winter on Vancouver Island. Probably a few go south, but the numbers 
do not appear to be much less in winter than in summer” (cf. Belding, Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. іі. 
p. 256). Mr. Emanuel Cox also states that it is always to be seen near Cape Beale. Many specimens 
were procured by Mr. J. K. Lord during the Boundary Commission in British Columbia, where 
Mr. Streator found it very common everywhere and breeding (Chapm. Bull. Amer. Mus. N. H. iii. 
p. 105), and others collected by Mr. A. Forrer in Vancouver Island in February, March, and June, 
are in the Salvin-Godman Collection. Professor Ridgway also inform’ me that the single specimen 
from Sitka in the U.S. National Museum belongs to М. propinqua, though M. migratoria may 
occur in that Territory also. 
In Washington Territory the species is resident, and Mr. Lawrence writes in his paper on the 
* Birds of Gray's Harbor':—* Less common than 7. ustulatus, but a common bird on the Harbor, 
the Humptulips, and Stevens' Prairie. I saw some on Axford Prairie in February in the midst 
of our wintriest weather" (Auk, ix. p. 47). Near Fort Walla Walla Dr. W. J. Williams informs 
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