A moulted feather, an eagle feather!
Well, I forget the rest.”
No. 97.
DWARF HERMIT THRUSH.
A. O. U. No. 759 c. Hylocichla guttata nana (Aud.).
Synonyms.—Pacific Hermit Thrush. Sitkan Dwarf Thrush (Ridgway).
Description.—“Similar to H. g. guttata but coloration darker and browner, the color of back, etc., more sepia brown, upper tail-coverts more russet, tail more chestnut, and spots on chest larger and darker” (Ridgway). Adult male: wing 3.42 (86.8); tail 2.58 (65.5); bill .48 (12.2); tarsus 1.13 (28.8).
Recognition Marks.—As in H. guttata.
Nesting.—As in H. g. sequoiensis.
General Range.—Pacific coast district, breeding from western Oregon (presumably) north to Cross Sound, Alaska; south in winter to Southwestern States.
Range in Washington.—Probably common but little known, during migrations. Presumably resident in summer west of the Cascades.
Authorities.—? Turdus nanus Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 201 (Columbia R.) ?Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VIII. 1839, 153 (Col. R.) Belding, L. B. P. D. 1890, p. 254 (Walla Walla, J. W. Williams, 1885).
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. E.
As one passes thru the woods in middle April while the vine maples are still leafless, and the forest floor is not yet fully recovered from the brownness of the rainy season, a moving shape, a little browner still, but scarcely outlined in the uncertain light, starts up from the ground with a low chuck, and pauses for a moment on a mossy log. Before you have made out definite characters, the bird flits to a branch a little higher up and more removed, to stand motionless for a minute or so, or else to chuckle softly with each twinkle of the ready wings. By following quietly one may put the bird to a dozen short flights without once driving it out of range; and in so doing he may learn that the tail is abruptly rufous in contrast with the olive-brown of the back, and that the breast is more boldly and distinctly spotted than is the case with the Russet-backed Thrush.
This bird will not tarry with us, unless it may choose to haunt the solitudes of the Olympics. In the vicinity of Sitka, however, Mr. J. Grinnell reports the species as “very common everywhere, especially on the small wooded ‘islands.’”[37]
When disturbed in its nesting haunts the Hermit Thrush has a nasal scolding cry, not unlike that of the Oregon Towhee. This note lacks the emphasis of Towhee’s, tho its dual character is still apparent—Murrry or Murre. But one forgets all trivial things as he listens to the angelic requiem of the Hermit at eventide. Not Orpheus in all his glory could match that,—for he was a pagan.
No. 98.
AMERICAN ROBIN.
A. O. U. No. 761. Planesticus migratorius (Linn.).
Synonym.—Eastern Robin.
Description.—Adult male: Head black, interrupted by white of chin and white with black stripes of throat; eyelids and a supraloral spot white; tail blackish with white terminal spots on inner webs of outer pair of rectrices; wings dusky except on external edges; remaining upperparts grayish slate; below,—breast, sides, upper belly and lining of wings cinnamon-rufous; lower belly and crissum white, touched irregularly with slate; bill yellow with blackish tip; feet blackish with yellowish soles. Adult female: Similar to male, but duller; black of head veiled by brownish. Adults in winter: Upperparts tinged with brown, the rufous feathers, especially on belly, with white skirtings. Immature: Similar to adult, but head about the color of back; rufous of underparts paler or more ochraceous. Very young birds are black spotted, above and below. Length about 10.00 (254); wing 5.08 (129); tail 3.75 (95.3); bill .78 (19.8).
Recognition Marks.—“Robin” size; cinnamon-rufous breast; the “corners” of the tail conspicuously white-tipped, as distinguished from P. m. propinquus.
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest and eggs as in next (sub) species, save that eggs 4 or 5, sometimes 6.
General Range.—Eastern and northern North America westward nearly to the Rocky Mountains and northwestward to valley of Kowak River in Alaska; breeds from the southern Alleghenies, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, etc., northward; winters in Gulf States; south irregularly across the Western States during migration.
Range in Washington.—An early spring (and late fall?) migrant, both sides of the Cascades. Winters sparingly on Puget Sound.
Authorities.—Turdus migratorius Brewster, B. N. O. C. VII., Oct. 1882, p. 227. B. E.
Specimens.—B. E.
A small proportion, not over one per cent, of the Robins which annually cross our borders have enough white in the “corners” of their tails to proclaim them true “Americans.” The difference is striking and unmistakable, and we feel sure that we have here, not a chance variation, but an alien element, a slender stream of migration diverted from the accustomed channels of typical P. migratorius, and straggling down, or up, on the wrong side of the Rockies. When it is remembered that the American Robin winters in Florida and the Gulf States, and that its spring migrations take it as far west as the Kowak River, in Alaska, that is, due northwest from Atlanta, it is less surprising that the birds should occasionally bear west northwest instead, and so make Washington en route. It is almost certain that this is the case, for the wintering birds west of the Rockies and in Mexico are invariably of the western type, propinquus.