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
The nest of the Robin is a large and coarsely constructed combination
of rude materials. It is composed of a base of straw, leaves, mosses,
stems, and dry grasses, upon which a cup-shaped fabric of clay or mud
is built. The whole is lined with finer dry grasses and vegetable
fibres. They average 5 inches in height and the same in diameter.
Their cavity is 2¾ inches deep, with a diameter of 2½ inches.
The eggs of the Robin, which are usually five and sometimes six in
number, are of a uniform bright greenish-blue color, liable to fade
when exposed to light, but when fresh exhibiting a very distinct and
bright tint. They vary in size from 1.25 to 1.12 inches in length, and
in breadth from .88 to .75 of an inch. Their mean measurement is 1.18
by .81.
Turdus migratorius, var. confinis, BAIRD.
CAPE ST. LUCAS ROBIN.
_Turdus confinis_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 29.—ELLIOT, Birds
America.—COOPER, Birds Cal., 9.
SP. CHAR. No. 23,789. Entire upper parts and sides of head and neck
uniform grayish-ash, with perhaps a faint tinge of olivaceous, less
than in eastern specimens of _T. migratorius_. The central portions of
the feathers of the top of head are rather darker than the edges,
though almost inappreciably so, and not imparting a general dusky
appearance. The chin and throat are white, streaked with ashy-brown.
The jugulum and breast are pale yellowish-buff; the axillars, inner
wing-coverts, and sides of the breast similarly, but rather more
decidedly colored. The belly and edges of the crissal feathers are
white, the hinder parts of the flanks ashy. There is a distinct
whitish stripe from the lores over and a quarter of an inch behind the
eye; the lower eyelid is also white. The tail-feathers are worn, but
there is an indication of a narrow white tip. The feathers of the
jugulum, especially of the sides, are tipped with ashy like the back,
as in immature specimens of _T. migratorius_. The greater wing-coverts
are tipped with dull white. The bill is yellowish; the upper mandible
and the tip of lower tinged with dusky. The feet are pale brown.
The length cannot be given accurately, as the skin is much drawn up.
The wing, however, measures 5.10 inches, its tip reaching 1.40 beyond
the longest secondary; tail, 4.10; tarsus, 1.20; middle toe and claw,
1.07; exposed portion of culmen, .92; from tip to open portion of
nostrils, .60.
HAB. Todos Santos, Cape St. Lucas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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