References to the likeness of certain specimens to T. ustulatus are also made by Mr. Chapman (Bull.
Amer. Mus. iii. p. 154) and by Mr. Ridgway himself (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 375).
Turdus fuscescens is more eastern in its range than the Willow-Thrush, but on the confines of
their breeding-range the two forms inhabit districts in close proximity, while it would appear that
they also follow the same lines of migration, as they occur together in their winter-quarters.
Mr. F. M. Chapman, in his paper on the Birds of British Columbia, makes the following remarks
on the plumage of Turdus salidcola:—“A specimen infall-plumage from Ducks is darker than spring
birds from Ashcroft, and is remarkably close to spring specimens of Turdus ustulatus from the coast.
A young male in spotted plumage taken from the same locality, August 8, is very different from
Turdus fuscescens of nearly the same age. The light centres to the feathers of the upper parts are
buffy, not tawny, while the wings and tail are russet-olive, not tawny brown. The differences are
thus similar to those shown by the adults of both forms, hut are more pronounced.”
Mr. Ridgway, in his original description of the Willow-Thrush (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 374),
records a specimen from the Souris River, in Dakota, this being the bird identified by Prof. Elliott
Coues as Turdus swainsoni (Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. no. 3, p. 550). (Cf. Thompson, Proc. U.S. Nat.
Mus. xiii. p. 633.) Mr. Ridgway likewise refers a specimen from Fort Rice, Dakota, to T. salidcola,
and the single specimen in the British Museum procured during the survey of the 49th parallel is
undoubtedly of the same race. I observe, however, that Mr. Ridgway refers a Pembina skin obtained
by Dr. Coues on the same Survey to the true T. fuscescens.
A specimen from Montana is in the United States Museum (Ridgway, I. <?.), and Mr. Williams
says that the bird arrives at Grant Falls about the 15th of May and nests in the mountains as
high as 4200 feet. It is the commonest and most widely distributed of the Thrushes in Montana
(Auk, vii. p. 292).
From Wyoming specimens have been examined by Mr. Ridgway from Laramie and FortBridger,
the latter having been obtained at the end of May (Ridgway, I. c.).
Mr. F. M. Chapman, in his paper on the collections made by Mr. Clark P. Streator in British
Columbia, writes as follows:—“ Captain Bendire informs me that the previously most northern
discovery of the nest of this species is at Sassin, near Spokane Falls, from which he has recently
received a nest and four eggs, taken on the 7th of June, 1890, with the female, a capture which he
permits me to record. Mr. Streator’s observations further extend this bird’s range, and show it to be
a common summer resident at least as far north as Ducks and Ashcroft.”
Several specimens from Fort Garland, in Colorado, are recorded by Mr. Ridgway (I. cJ), and the
Henshaw Collection contains examples from the same place and from Colorado Springs killed in May
and June. It was also found breeding near Denver (Hensh. Zool. Wheeler’s Exped. 1875, p. 148).
Mr. Drew gives the vertical breeding-range in Colorado as extending from 5000 to 8000 feet (Auk,
ii. p. 15). Mr. Ridgway also found this Thrush nesting in the valleys of the Bear, Provo, and Weber
Rivers in Utah (Om. 40th Parallel, p. 398).
From Arizona Mr. Scott records a specimen obtained by Mr. Herbert Brown near Tuczon in
May (Auk, v. p. 169).
In other parts of the United States the Willow-Thrush appears to be a migrant. In Illinois it
was first observed by Mr. H. K. Coale at Chicago (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, p. 239, 1883), and he
obtained a second specimen in May at Ravenia, in Lake County (Auk, xi. p. 222). Mr. Gault has
not only procured examples at Glen Ulyn in May, but believes it to be a regular autumn migrant in
the State (Auk, xii. p. 85). I am inclined to consider a specimen in the Henshaw Collection, from
Lowville, New York, shot by Mr. A. J. Dayan on July 3rd, 1876, as belonging to T. salidcola, as
well as a male bird procured by Mr. Henshaw himself at Cambridge, Mass., on the 12th of June.
Mr. Loomis has obtained it in Chester Co., South Carolina, in October (Auk, vi. p. 194), and
Mr. Bagsdale in Cook Co., Texas (Auk, iii. p. 281). A specimen in the Salvin-Godman Collection
from Corpus Christi, procured on the 3rd of May by Mr. F. B. Armstrong, I also consider to be
T. salidcola.
I have already referred to a specimen from Camacusa, in British Guiana, in the Salvin-Godman
Collection, as being apparently referable to T. salidcola; and, according to Dr. J. A. Allen, an
undoubted example was procured at Chapada, in Matto Grosso, in March by Mrs. Herbert Smith
(Bull. Amer. Mus. iii. p. 340).
The following note by Dr.. Elliott Coues on Turdus fuscescens (Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 550)
must, I think, refer to the Willow-Thrush, although Mr. Ridgway has identified one of the Pembina
specimens as the true T. fuscescens. Dr. Coues writes:—“ In the vicinity of Pembina it was found
breeding in abundance during the month of June, where its exquisite song enlivened the tangled
recesses of the wooded river-bottom, in which the timid birds secreted themselves, and formed one
of the most characteristic pieces of bird-melody to be heard in that ill-favoured locality. A nest was
found on the 9th of June, containing four fresh eggs, uniform bluish-green in colour, and measuring
about 0-86 inch by 0’66 inch in diameter. It was placed upon a small heap of decayed leaves which
had been caught on the footstalks of a bush a few inches from the ground, and composed of weed-
sterns, grasses, and fibrous bark-strips, woven together and mixed with withered leaves. The walls
were thick, giving a bulky, irregular, and rather slovenly appearance, and causing the cavity to
appear comparatively small,—it was only about 2 | inches in diameter by less than 2 inches in depth,
though the whole nest was as large as a child’s head.”
Mr. R. S. Williams, in his notes on the birds of Montana (Auk, vii. p. 292, 1890), writes of
the present species:—“ The commonest and most widely distributed of the Thrushes in Montana,
It finds favourite nesting-sites all along the valley-streams in thickets of willow, rose, box-elder, &c.,
that, as the summer advances, become almost impenetrable with a rank growth of weeds. From
such localities its song is often heard on its first arrival, but later little else than its loud plaintive
call-note greets the listener’s ear, and one may spend many a fruitless moment in trying to obtain a
fair glimpse of the wary little inhabitant of the secluded covert. From the lower valleys this species
ranges up to the mountain foot-hills and canons, but I have never seen it far from water, or more
than a few yards above the earth, and never in heavy evergreen timber.”
Seebohm did not consider T. salidcola to be distinct from T. fuscescens, and did not include it
in the illustrations of the present Monograph. [R. B. S.]