Mr. Belding (I. s. c.) that it is common in the breeding-season, and Mr. Brewster has found it in the
same place in autumn and winter (Auk, vii. p. 227). Messrs. (Richmond and Knowlton (Auk, xi.
p. 308) state that they found the present species common in the valleys in Montana, and also noted
it in some numbers in the mountains. Near Fort Keogh, in the same State, Mr. Thome states that
it breeds commonly, and he has even found it in the plne-woods during the breeding-season, fifty
miles from any house (Auk, xii. p. 219). .
Dr. Merriam gives the following note in his paper on the birds observed by him in South
Central Idaho (N. Amer. Faun. no. 5, p. 1 0 8 ) “ Tolerably common in July along Snake River,
near Blackfoot, in the Lost River Mountains, and on Big Lost River. In August and September a
few were seen from time to time in Lemhi and Birch Creek Valleys and in the upper part of Wood
River Valley, but it was nowhere common. A flock remained for several days about the head of
Saw Tooth or Alturas Lake the last week of September. .
Mr, A. W. Anthony says that the Robin is abundant in Washington, Co. Oregon, nearly the
entire year, only leaving for a few days in the wet season (Auk, iii. p. 172). He noticed it on the
17th and 21st of January, and by the 10th of February it was common. At Beaverton the first nest
was found on the 24th of April (cf. Belding, I. s. c.). Dr. Merrill says that near Fort Klamath it was
rare during the winter, but began to arrive on the 7th of March, and became-common -in three or
four days. By the 1st of May many nests contained their full complement of eggs (Auk, v. p. 365).
Mr. L. Belding, in his paper on the birds of Central California,-writes as follows: “ This bird
visits the valleys only in winter, when it is sometimes abundant, especially during the coldest
weather. In summer it is rarely seen out of the pine-forests, though about the 1st of September,
1878, twenty-five or thirty were observed in an orchard at Murphy’s (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 895).
The same observer gives some further notes (Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. .ii. p. 256). Griclley,
Oct. 1 -3 : snow on both sides of the valley above about 3000 feet. Not seen here again this winter
(1884-85).” W '
Mr. Charles Townsend, in his account of the birds &c. of Northern California (Proc. U S Nat
Mus. x. p. 231), w r i t e s “ More common in the cultivated valleys than elsewhere, but never
abundant as Robins are in the long-settled sections of the Eastern States. Stragglers were met with
in the foot-hills of Shasta County at all seasons of the year. The first nest was found at the United
States fishery on May 21st. It was high up on the horizontal limb of a ‘ live oak’ by,the nver, and
contained four eggs. Specimens were obtained in the mountains along McCloud River in January,
and on the timber-line of Mount Shasta in August.” According to the same observer f . o .;p i^% -
the species breeds firom 300 to 6000 feet, and is found as high as 8500 feet in summer.
“ Oroville, January and December, rare,. „.Colfax and Alta,'very rarein the middle of November.
Summit and Donner Lake, not seen firom November 13 .to 17, although it was mild and scarcely any
snow had fallen. It is a common summer resident in the fir-forests of California firom latitude 38
northward; never breeding in orchards or about settlements in California, I believe. At Blood s,
altitude 7200 feet, young did not begin to leave their nests until July 14, 1880, nearly a month later
than in the following year, owing to difference in the winter’s snowfall and consequent difference m
the advent of summer.”
“ San Diego.—Common in the winter of 1883-84. It disappeared March 22, but returned on
the 29th, and remained two days, while the mountains east of San Diego were covered with snow.
One was seen at Campo, May 14, just previous to a rainstorm. No Robins were seen during
a four days’ journey south of Campo, about half of which was through pine-clad mountains,
from May 9 to 13. Mr. T. E. Wadham collected it in Lower California, about ninety miles
south-east of San Diego, April 22. His specimens showed no leaning toward var. xsonfima of the
Cape region.
In many parts of California the present species appears to be only a winter visitant. Mr. W . E.
Bryant says that in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties it is rare in some winters and in others
abundant. Mr. F. Stephens records it as an irregular winter visitor to the San Bernardino Valley,
and a rare summer • resident in the mountains (cf. Belding’s notes, I. s. c.). In Ventura. County
Mr. Evermann gives it as an abundant winter resident (Auk, iii. p. 186).
Dr. C. Hart Merriam, during the expedition to the San Francisco Mountain Region, says that it
was “ occasionally seen in the pines and along the lower part of the fir belt. A few were seen at
Grand Falls on the Little Colorado the middle of August, and it was tolerably common at the Grand
Canon of the Colorado the middle of September” (N. Amer. Faun. no. 3, p. 101).
Mr. Ridgway, in his ‘ Report on the Exploration of the 40th Parallel,’ records specimens firom
the West Humboldt Mountains in Nevada and the Truckee Valley, where a nest was found in a
cotton-wood tree. Another nest was procured in the Toyabe Mountains on July 3, at an elevation
of 7500 feet, and also on the East Humboldt Mountains on the 22nd of July, at a height of
8000 feet. Several nests were found at Parley’s Park, Utah, in June and July, and in Pack’s Canon
in Utah on the 3rd of the last-named month. Mr. Ridgway gives the following note:—“ The
Common Robin was not found at Sacramento Valley until we neared the foot-hills of the Sierra
Nevada, where the first individuals of the species were noticed among the scattered pines which
formed the outposts of the continuous forest of the mountains. From the Sierra Nevada eastward,
however, it was continually met with in all wooded localities, the aspen groves of the .higher canons
being its favorite resort during the summer, while in winter it descended to the lower valleys, and
passed the season among the willows or cotton-woods and attendant shrubbery along the streams.
In the vicinity of Carson City it was extremely abundant from the middle of March until the middle
of April, and assembled in large flocks among the scrubby thickets of dwarf-plum bushes along the
base of the Sierra. In August they were quite plentiful in the valley of the Truckee, below the
‘ Big Bend,’ being attracted thither by the abundance of fruit of the buffalo-berry bushes (Shejpherdia
argentea), which at this time formed an important portion of their food; and later in the season they
were observed feeding on service-berri.es (the fruit of Amelanchier canadensis) along the foot-hills of
the eastern ranges.
“ In their manners and notes we could not detect the minutest difference between the western
and eastern Robins, although climatic or other geographical influences have perceptibly modified
their plumage. In all respects it seems the same bird, the song and other notes being identical ”
(Expl. 40th Parallel, p. 391).
Dr. A. K. Fisher, in his account of the birds obtained during the Death Valley Expedition
(N. Amer. Fauna, no. 7, p. 146), writes as follows :—“ The Robin is a rather rare bird in the desert
regions, even during migration and in winter. In Nevada several were seen at Ash Meadows in
March. Mr. Palmer found it rather common from the valley up to the pinons on the west side of
the Charleston Mountains in February, and Mr. Nelson saw it about the ranches in Pahrump and
Vegas valleys, and in Vegas Wash, in March. Dr. Merriam saw it on Mount Magruder, June 8, and
in Utah, at Mountain Meadows, May 17. In California a few were seen at Furnace Creek, Death
Valley, the latter part of January, and again on April 10. Several were observed at Resting Springs,
in the Amargosa Desert, the first half of February. A few Robins were seen about a spring in
Johnson Canon, in the Panamint Range, in April. Dr. Merriam saw several in the junipers in the
same mountains April 16-19, and Mr. Nelson a few at the head of W illow Creek early in May, after
which time none were seen. Several were seen in the Argus Range, above Maturango Spring, the
first half of May. Mr. Nelson found it in the Inyo Mountains among Finns flexilis and P. aristata,
and in the White Mountains from the pinons up to 10,000 feet. In the Sierra Nevada Robins were
plentiful in many places. Mr. Nelson found them common at the head of Owens River, on the east