J.G.Kculemans TitK
T U R D U S M IG R A T O R IU S
H a n h a r t iunp.
TURDUS MIGRATORIUS, Unn.
RED-BREASTED THRESH, o r AMERICAN ROBIN.
Fieldfare o f Carolina, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, i. pi. xxix. (1731).
La Grive do Canada, Briss. Om. ii. p. 225 (1760).
Turdus migratorius, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 292 (1766); Seebohm, Gat. Birds Brit. Mus. v. p. 220
(1881). ■
L a Litorne de Canada, Montb. Hist. Nat. Ois. iii. p. 307 (1775). >
Turdus canadensis, P. L. S. Mull. Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 140 (1776).
Fed-breasted Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. p. 26 (1783).
Menila migratoria, Swains. Faun. Bor.-Amer., Birds, p. 176 (1831).
Turdus (Planestious) migratorius, Baird, Cassin, & Lawr. B. N. Amer. p. 218 (1858).
Planestious migratorius, Coues, Ibis, 1865, p. 163.
Turdus migratorius, var. migratorius, Baird, Brewer, & Ridgw. N. Amer. B. i. p. 25 (1874).
T. gutture nigro striolato : gastrseo reliquo lretè castaneo vel saturate eiunamomeo-rufo : pedibus brunneis,
minime flavis : pileo nigro ; maculd supralorali albfi : caudà nigrà, rectricibus extends albo apicatis.
T he R ed-breasted T hrush, or American “ Robin,” as it is most frequently called, is a very widely
distributed species in Nortb America. Mr. Ridgway gives its range as “ Eastern and northern
North America, breeding south to about 35° (farther in the Alleghenies), north to Alaska
(Yukon district)'and Hudson’s Bay, west to Great Plains; occasional in Eastern Mexico ” (Man.
N. Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 577).
“ During the summer of 1885,” writes Mr. Charles Townsend, “ I found the Eastern form of the
Robin and the Varied Thrush associating among the dwarf pines of the Kowak River region in
Northern Alaska” (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. x. p. 231). Mr. L. M. Turner says that the Robin Was
quite common and breeding near Fort Yukon, where it arrives during the latter twenty days of May,
and remains until the sharp frosts of September. He did not obtain any specimens from other
parts of the Yukon district (Contr. Nat. Hist. Alaska, p. 183).
The following excellent account of the species in Alaska is given by Mr. E. W. Nelson (Nat.
Hist. Coll. Alaska, p. 218):—“ Throughout the entire wooded portion of the Territory this bird is
found more or less numerously during summer, and along the treeless coast of Bering Sea and
Kotzebue Sound it appears merely as a straggler in the migrations. Along the Yukon and other
rivers of the Territory it is numerous as low down their course as the spruce-forests extend, and
thence, towards the mouths, becomes more and more uncommon. A single specimen was found
storm-bound, on the Seal Islands by Elliott, and the natives informed him that it usually occurred
annually in this manner. It ■ reaches the Yukon, in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, about May 15,
and nests as far north as the tree-limit extends, in about 69° N. It arrives at Fort Reliance on the
Upper Yukon, May 5, and m’y earliest record at St. Michael’s is the 18th of the same month.
Hartlaub records it at Portage Bay on April 30, and again in large flocks at the end of August.
During the first half of September it commences its southern migration, but is found close under
the Arctic Circle as late as the 1st of November. No appropriate localities for nesting-sites are