111
■ yU! i
TURDUS BICKNELLI [Ridgway).
BICKNELL’S GREY-CHEEKED THRUSH.
Hylocichla alicioe (nec Baird), Merriam, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vi. p. 226 (1881).
Hylocichla alidce bicTcnelli, Ridgway, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 377 (1882).
Turdus alidce bicknelli, Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, viii. p. 12 (1883); Coues, Key N.
Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 248 (1884) ; A. O, U. Check-list N. Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 317 (1895);
Ridgw. Man. N. Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 575 (1896).
T. similis T. alidce, sed minor et rostro graciliore distinguendus.
T his race of the Grey-cheeked Thrush, which Seebohm, as is shown by the label on the specimen
in his collection, was not inclined to separate from T. alidce, constitutes a small eastern race of the
last-named species, and is, in my opinion also, scarcely worth separating from it. I keep it distinct
in deference to the opinion of my American colleagues, who allow it to stand in the last edition of
the ‘ Checklist ’ as a race of T. alidce. The characters given by Mr. Ridgway in the latest edition
of his ‘Manual ’ (p. 575) cannot be said to amount to much, and it would seem to me more probable
that T. bicknelli is nothing but a small race of T. alidce.
The differences given by Mr. Ridgway for the separation of the two races are simply those of
size, and it will be seen that, even from his own figures, they overlap, the dimensions of T. alidce
being stated to be as follows:—Length 7 -7 ‘75 inches,wing 3’75—4'4, tail 2'9-3’4, culmen 0'45-0‘58,
tarsus 1*12-1*30; whereas in T. bicknelli the length is 6'25-7*25, wing 3*4-3’8, tail 2‘6 -2 -7, culmen
0/50-0-52, tarsus 1*1-1*25.
The distribution of Bicknell’s Thrush, ,so far as is known at present, is given by Mr. Ridgway
as follows —“ In summer, higher mountains of north-eastern United States (Catskills, White
Mountains, &c.) and Nova Scotia; Illinois (autumn); winter-quarters unknown.”
T. bicknelli was described by Mr. Ridgway from the Slide Mountains in Ulster Co., New York
(Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 377), where, Mr. Bicknell states, it is found up to 4200 feet (Bull.
Nutt. Orn. Club, vii. p. 152), and it breeds on the Catskill Mountains (Ridgway, Bull. Nutt. Orn.
Club, vii. p. 257). In the Seebohm Collection is a specimen procured by Dr. C. Hart Merriam at
Locust Grove, New York, on the 24th of May, 1878 [cf. Merriam, Auk, i. p. 58). Mr. Dutchei*
has met with it on Long Island, on the 1st of October, on migration (Auk, iii. p. 448).
In Massachusetts, Mr. Brewster found Bicknell’s Thrush on Mount Washington at from
3000-3800 feet, in July (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, viii. p. 12, 1883), and Mr. Faxon records it as a
summer resident in Berkshire Co., Mass. (Auk, xii. p. 392). Specimens from Grantville (May) and
the Wellesley Hills (October) are in the Henshaw Collection. In New Hampshire, Dr. Chadboume
has recorded the breeding of Bicknell’s Thrush on the White Mountains at an elevation of from
3000 to 4340 feet (Auk, iv. p. 107), and Messrs. Faxon and Allen state that it was common on
Mount Lafayette, in the same district, from June to August (Auk, v. p. 153). It also breeds in
Vermont, according to Mr. Torrey (Auk, vi. p. 194). Off Nova Scotia, on Mud and Seal Islands,
Mr. Langille found it nesting (Auk, i. p. 268).