176 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[37.] 1. Merula migratoria. (Swainson.) Red-breasted Thrush. 



Genus, Merula. Ray. (Turdus, Linn.)* 



Turdus migratorius. Linn. Syst. Nat., i., p. 292, No. 6. 



Grive du Canada. Buffon, PL Enl., 568, f. 1. 



Turdus migratorius. Forster. Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 399, No. 21. 



Red-breasted Thrush. Pens. Arct. ZooL, ii., p. 335, No. 196. 



Turdus migratorius. Lath. Ind, i., p. 330, sp. 12. 



Red-breasted Thrush, Redbird or Blackbird. Hearne, Journ., p. 418. 



Turdus migratorius. Vieillot. Ois. de V Ann., ii., pi. 60 (male), p. 5, pi. 61 (young). 



Turdus migratorius. {The Robin.') Wilson, i., p. 35, pi. 2, f. 2. Sabine, Frankl. 



Journ., p. 674. Bonap. Syn., p. 75, No. 97- 

 Merula migratoria. Swains. Syn., p. 367, No. 28. 

 Peepeechew. Cree Indians. 



None of the feathered tribe are better known in America than this, which, from 

 its red breast and familiar habits, has obtained the name of the " Robin." It 

 winters, in immense numbers, in the Atlantic States, from New Hampshire to the 

 Gulf of Mexico, deserting at that season the tracts to the westward of the 

 Alleghany range. Notwithstanding the havoc made in its flocks for the supply of 

 the markets, it affects the neighbourhood of towns, and is observed to feed much 

 on the fruit of the sour-gum (Nyssa syhatica), and on poke-berries (Phylotacca 

 decandra). Sometimes it disappears from a district for a week or two, and returns 

 again in larger flocks than before. In March it begins to sing, and pairs early 

 in April. Many pairs breed in the United States, but great numbers spread 

 themselves over every part of the fur countries, extending almost to the northern 

 extremity of the continent. Its nests were observed by the Expedition as high as 

 the sixty-seventh parallel of latitude ; and, from the reports of various travellers, 

 it is known to visit the north-west coast of America. It arrives in the Missouri 

 (in lat. 41^°), from the eastward, on the 11th of April; and, in the course of its 

 northerly movement, reaches Severn River in Hudson's Bay about a fortnight 

 later. Its first appearance at Carlton House, lat. 53°, in the year 1827, was on 

 the 22nd of April. In the same season it reached Fort Chepewyan, in latitude 

 58£°, on the 7th of May, and Fort Franklin, in lat. 65°, on the 20th of that month. 

 Those that build their nests in the fifty-fourth parallel of latitude, begin to hatch 



* It is seldom that the great Swede can be accused of not having profited by the labours of his predecessors, or of 

 neglecting their classic terms. In this instance, our veneration for the talents of our illustrious countryman Ray, 

 induces us to adopt with pleasure the suggestion that has already been made, of distinguishing the true Thrushes (of 

 which the Blackbird is probably the type) by the generic name of Merwta.— Sw. 



