Auko-XY, Got., 1393. p;'-3/^-vi-. ^ ^ 



A Note on the \A7ood Thrush. — It seems worthy of mention, that^on 

 examining a large series of Wood Thrushes {Turdus 7nustelinus) taken 

 throughout their range, the majority of specimens from west ofj the 

 Appalachian Highlands and the St. Lawrence Valley average much 

 smaller in measurements (hill, culmen .56 in. and depth .18, tarsus 1.08, 

 and wing 4.22), than those from east of the Highlands (bill, culmen, 

 .63+ and depth .21+, tarsus 1.15, and wing 4.31). Typical western 



birds having been secured not uncommonly in the East, and vice versa, 

 does not allow, however, the establishment of a western subspecies.— 

 Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., Lougzvood, Mass. 



THE COMMON NAMES OF AMERICAN BIRDS. 



BY ERNEST INGERSOLL. 



The Thrush family — here regarded in its broadest sense, for 

 the sake of convenience — does not present a wide range of ver- 

 nacular synonyms except in respect to two or three species, nor 

 are these difficult of explanation. 



The word Thrush is very old, appearing in substantially the 

 same shape — the u sound having superseded an older y or 6 — 

 in the Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon languages. I believe that the 

 origin of the word was a reference to the throat, or in other 

 words to the singing powers of this family, whose voice is prob- 

 ably their most notable trait ; and this view is strengthened when 

 it is remembered that the old German word drozzd coming from 

 the same root as our English throat gives drossel in modern 

 German as the word for "throat," "throttle," and also for 

 "thrush." Under Thrasher I shall adduce a further argument. 

 From the earliest times, then, the Thrushes have been consid- 

 ered preeminently the song-birds of the world. 



Taking up the list in regular order, the first to present itself is 

 Turdus musteliniis. Its common names are : Wood Thrush. 



Wood Robin, Swamp Robin, Swamp Angel (Adirondacks) , 

 Bogtrot {South CaroVma), A londra del Afonte (Mexico). All 

 of these evidently refer to its habitual forest-resort and its Thrush- 

 or Robin-like (for frequently these words are confused) character. 

 The terms Song Thrush and Grive des Bois Flilte (Canada) 

 point to the striking music of this bird, the French literally 

 meaning "the flute-voiced Thrush of the woods." Referring to 



the color of the plumage are the book-names Tawny Thrush 



(Pennant, Latham) and Merle tanni (D'Orbigny). As for 



Grasset (Texas) , I cannot explain it. 



Bnll,N,o,o, i38C,B|| T'.^ - 7>? • j 



T^So A Hard Time of It. By A." 11^6. Ibid., Aug. 8, p. 43-— A.n 

 item abo.;^ Turd.s m.sJnus. W &Stre^«, V(l. 33 



608. Dcr Walddi'ossel. { Turdus mustelinus Gmelin.— Wood Tknts/t.) 

 Von H. Nehrling, Sonntagsblatt der N. Y. Staats Zeitung, 20 Jan. 1884. 

 — Biography of the species. 



38. Facts and Fancies in Organic Life. By B. Horsford. Ibid., Vol. 

 VI, pp. 7, 40. — Chiefly noteworthy as containing (p. 40) an attempt 

 to represent the songs of " our Wood Thrushes " by means of the musical 



scale. FajjQ, Soi, fe Paao, Joar, 



132. Tke Food-habits of Thrushes. By S. A. Forbes. American En- 

 tomologist, New Ser., I, pp. 12, 13. — Abstract of observations made upon 

 this family, published in detail in Trans, Illinois State Hort. Soc, Vol. 

 XIII, 1879. PP- 130-172. 



