J. G.Ke ulemans lifch.
TURDUS' MUSTELINUS
TURDUS MUSTELINUS, Gm.
WOOD-THRUSH.
Tawny Thrush. Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. p. 28 (1783).
Turdns mustelinus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 817 (1788).
Turdus melodes, Bartr. Trav. p. 290 bis (1791).
Turdus melodus, Wilson, Amer. Orn. i. p. 29, pi. ii. fig. 1 (1808).
Turdus melodius, Bp. Journ. Phil. Acad. iv. p. 33 (1824).
Mervla mustelinus, Denny, P. Z. S. 1847, p. 38.
Turdus densus, Bp. Compt. Rend, xxxviii. p. 2 (1854).
Turdus (Hylocichla) mustelinus, Coues, B. Colorado Valley, p. 28 (1878).
Hylocichla mustelina, Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vii. p. 17 (1882).
T. suprk mustelinus : pectore et corporis lateribus maculis nigris triquetris conspicue notatis.
This species is the type of Baird’s genus Hylocichla, which includes all the North-American Dwarf-
Thrushes, and, according to the recent opinion of American naturalists, some Old-World species as
well, such as our Song-Thrush (Turdus musicus).
The Wood-Thrush is easily distinguished from the other small American Thrushes by the foxy-
red colour of the upper surface and by the black spotting on the sides of the body, all the allied
species having uniform flanks. It is one of the forms peculiar to the Humid Province o f the
Nearctic Region, as pointed out by Dr. J. A. Allen, and its range is given in the ‘A. O. U.
Check-list’ (p. 317) as follows:—“ Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Southern Michigan,
Ontario, and Massachusetts, south in winter to Guatemala and Cuba. Breeds from Virginia,
Kentucky, and Kansas, northwards.”
Near Hamilton, in Ontario, Dr. Mcllwraith says that the Wood-Thrush is a common summer
resident, and is generally distributed over Southern Ontario, arriving early in May and departing
in September. “ Mr. White,” he adds, “ has found the species at Ottawa, but in the west I have
no record of it at any distance to the north of our southern boundary” (B. Ontario, 1894, p. 405).
Mr. W. A. Stearns has stated that he heard the Wood-Thrush repeatedly in Southern Labrador,
ten miles up the Esquimaux River,, one day late in July (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. vi. p. 116); but
Mr. Ridgway adds a note (I. c.) in which he suggests that the species heard by Mr. Stearns must
have been T. alicice, as T. mustelinus is not known to occur so far north even as the southern
shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In New England, Mr. Stearns says that the species arrives
from the south early in May and departs during October. “ It is a summer resident, but is not
very abundant, and less so in the northern than in the southern New England States, being
decidedly the most southerly of the four common species of its sub-genus. It is one of the species
which is practically limited in its northern range by the Alleghanian Fauna, and its presence in New
England in midsummer is a good indication that such locality belongs to this Fauna’.’"(New England
Bird Life, i. p. 54).
Mr. Goodall (Auk, ii. p. 215) records a young male individual as shot by him at Saco, in Maine,
on the 6th of September, 1884 ; and this he believes to be the first recorded capture of the species
v o l . i . J