A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
HABITS. So far as we are aware, this thrush has a very limited
distribution, being mainly restricted to the Pacific coast region from
California to Alaska in the breeding season, though migrating
southward in winter to Guatemala. Dr. Kennerly found it in great
abundance breeding at Chiloweyuck Depot, July 3, 1859. Dr. Cooper also
found it one of the most abundant of the summer residents in
Washington Territory, arriving there in May and remaining until the
beginning of September. Three specimens of this thrush were obtained
at Sitka, by Mr. Bischoff. Mr. Ridgway met with only a single specimen
east of the Sierra Nevada, though on that range he found it an
abundant summer bird.
In its general appearance it has a marked resemblance to Wilson’s
Thrush (_T. fuscescens_), but its habits and notes, as well as its
nest and eggs, clearly point its nearer affinity to Swainson’s Thrush
(_T. swainsoni_), its song being scarcely different from that of the
latter species. Like this species, it frequents the thickets or
brushwood along the mountain streams, and, except just after its
arrival, it is not at all shy. In crossing the Sierra Nevada in July,
1867, Mr. Ridgway first met with this species. He describes it as an
exquisite songster. At one of the camps, at an altitude of about 5,000
feet, they were found unusually plentiful. He speaks of their song as
consisting of “ethereal warblings,—outbursts of wild melody.”
“Although its carols were heard everywhere in the depth of the ravine,
scarcely one of the little musicians could be seen.” “The song of this
thrush,” he adds, “though possessing all the wild, solemn melody of
that of the Wood Thrush (_T. mustelinus_) is weaker, but of a much
finer or more silvery tone, and more methodical delivery. It is much
like that of the _T. swainsoni_, but in the qualities mentioned is
even superior.”
Dr. Cooper found its nests with eggs about the middle of June. These
were most usually built on a small horizontal branch, and were very
strongly constructed of twigs, grasses, roots, and leaves, usually
covered on the outside entirely with the bright green _Hypnum_ mosses
peculiar to that region, which in the damp climate near the coast
continue to grow in that position, and form large masses. The number
of eggs is usually five.
Dr. Cooper states that these thrushes sing most in the early morning
and in the evening, when numbers may be heard answering one another on
all sides. They do not affect the darkest thickets so much as the
Hermit Thrush, but are often seen feeding in the gardens in the open
sunshine.
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