on the ground again a short distance in front. It appears to be fond of flying by short stages in a
desultory, manner, sometimes alighting on the ground, at others on fences, bushes, or trees.”
Mr. L. Belding writes ‘ Its alarm-note is a short ‘ chook,’ its call a prolonged, nearly
monotonous ‘ chee ’ or ‘ yee,’ and I have heard it sing sweetly about March 1st. I once mistook its
call for the bleating of a distant lamb, although the bird was not far from me.”
The following note on the habits of the species in Northern California is given by Mr. C. H.
Townsend :—“ I first saw the Varied Thrush while ‘ a hunting of the deer ’ along the Lower McCloud
Biver early in November, 1883, often finding it loitering under the low shrubbery and among the
fallen tree-trunks in the deepest and wildest canons where the sunlight could not penetrate. In
such quiet places I used to rest sometimes when making a long round, and the stillness would often
be broken by a note of alarm from this bird when it had discovered so unusual an apparition as a
human being in its secluded retreats. It would fly into some pine near by and earnestly regard the
motionless forms of the hunter and his dog, and if given no further cause for alarm, would remain in
the vicinity quietly continuing the inspection from various points of view.”
The nesting-habits of the species are summarized by Mr. E. W. Nelson :—“ Hall secured a nest
and two eggs of this bird near Nulato, May 22, 1867, and states that the birds arrive there about
May 16, and frequent the vicinity of the smaller streams. He found its nests along the Yukon to
Port Yukon and near Nulato.
“ According to this observer, the Varied Thrush was not very common at Nulato, nor, according.
to the information I have been able to secure, is it numerous anywhere in the northern portion
of the Territory, though generally distributed and of regular occurrence. A few pairs breed every
summer in the alder and willow thickets about the shores of Norton Sound, and a single specimen
was brought to me from latitude 68°, north of Kotzebue Sound. I had no opportunity of observing
the little-known habits of this interesting species, but learned that it generally arrives before the
ground is free from snow, during the middle and last of May, and leaves before the cold storms
of autumn commence. The nest found by Dali was built in the midst of a large heap of rubbish^
in a group of willows, about 2 feet above the ground, and close, to the river-bank. The eggs
were bluish, speckled with brown.”
Adult male. General colour above slaty-grey, darker on the head; lores black like the ear-
coverts; a broad eye-stripe orange-chestnut, extending to the nape, but n o t in front of the eye;
lesser wing-coverts slatv-grey ; median wing-coverts black, with large fan-shaped, t e r r i l spots
of orange-buff; greater wing-coverts slaty-grey, with large spots of orange-buff; primary-coverts
dark brown, with an ashy mark in the middle of the outer webs ; inner secondaries brown, with
ashy-buff margins to the outer webs and obscure pale tips ; primaries and secondaries brown, with
some orange-buff on the margins, and with orange-buff bases to the outer webs of the primaries;
tail brown, suffused with slaty-grey on both webs of the central feathers, the others externally
edged with slaty-grey ; at the ends of the tail-feathers a small spot of white, with a terminal wedge
on the external feather, about half an inch in length ; feathers below the eye and ear-coverts black
to the sides of the neck.
Under surface of body deep orange-chestnut, with a broad black collar across the fore-neck ;
sides of body with crescentic grey marks ; flanks slightly tinged with grey ; abdomen white ; under
tail-coverts white, with dusky-brown bases and lateral margins of orange-buff; axillaries pale
slaty-grey, with white bases; lower primary-coverts slaty-grey; Ibwer secondary-coverts white
with slaty-grey bases.
Geocichline markings on the inner webs of the quills, white.
Adult female. Different from the male, and lacks the black gorget, which is replaced by a more
or less distinct band of pale grey, which is plainer in the breeding-plumage. The slaty-grey upper
surface is suffused with brown, especially on the head, and the tail is browner. There is also more
white on the belly than in the male, and the flank-feathers are white with ashy margins. In winter
plumage the females are much browner than the males, and the pectoral collar is very indistinct.
Young males appear to resemble the females, but are darker and more slaty-grey, and the black
collar on the fore-neck is gradually assumed; in specimens after the first autumn moult it is often
interrupted and consists only of black crescentic markings.
The question whether Geocickla ncevia has spotted young or not appears to be at present
undecided. Professor Elliott Coues (B. Colorado Valley, p. 15) writes “ The young are like the
adult female. Upper parts in many cases with a decided umber-brown wash. No speckled stage,
like that of the very young Robin, has been observed,-though August specimens have been examined.
In the young male the black pectoral bar is at first indicated by interrupted blackish crescents on
individual feathers. Young females sometimes show scarcely a trace of the collar. At all ages the
markings of the head and wings are much the same.” On the other hand, Dr. Stejneger (Proc. U.S.
Nat. Mus. v. p. 466) observes:—“ It is only apparently, as this statement seems to indicate, that the
young bird is not speckled at all, thus differing from all the other Thrushes, and wanting the most
essential character. I have now before me a specimen (U.S. Nat. Mus. no. 45897 : Sitka, August,
1866) which differs considerably from the adult female. The under surface is of a much duller
colour, without white on the belly and under tail-coverts. All the feathers of the chin, throat, and
upper breast have well-marked blackish edges, giving these parts a scaly appearance. In the adult
female the feathers forming the collar are almost uniformly dark, the edges, if any, being lighter,
while the feathers of the above-mentioned parts in the young bird are grey and downy on their basal
half, then ochraceous yellow and, finally, narrowly edged with blackish. The feathers of the upper
parts of the young bird have no light centres as usual among the Thrushes, except on the sides of
the neck and on the head, where the middle of the feathers are more or less conspicuously marked
with a lighter spot. Finally we have a very striking difference between the adult and the young,
showing the common Thrush-like feature of the plumage of the latter, the smaller wiDg-coverts
having wedge-shaped, rusty spots towards the tip and dark edgings, while in the adult bird they are
absolutely uniform in colour. It will thus be seen that the speckled stage is not altogether wanting
in this genus, although it may be admitted that it is not so conspicuous as in the young of
M. migratoria. This fact seems to me to strengthen my view that the present bird, notwithstanding
a certain resemblance of the predominating colours and their tone, is widely remote from the last-
named species, in the neighbourhood of which it has been placed by many authors.”
The figures in the Plate represent an adult male in the Seebohm Collection obtained in the
Greenwood Valley in Eldorado County by Mr. A. Forrer on the 17th of December, and a female
procured by the same collector in the same locality on the 28th of the same month. The male is
figured of the'size of life, and the female a little smaller. [R. B. S.]