ON THE OCCURRENCE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
ENGLAND OF THE AMERICAN RED-BREASTED
THRUSH (TURDUS MIGRATORIUS).
By the Editor.
It is not a little remarkable that most of the specimens of North American birds which are recorded to have been found in Europe were taken in England. According to Professor Spencer Baird this has happened in fifty out of sixty-nine instances, and in nearly every case these specimens belonged to species which are abundant during summer in New England and the Eastern Provinces of British America. This computation, however, was made ten years ago,[1] since which time the increased attention paid to Ornithology has resulted in the detection in Great Britain of several North American birds which had not been previously observed here, as well as many fresh instances of the appearance of species which had been already noted as occasional visitants to this country.
On referring to my 'Handbook of British Birds' (Introd. pp. x., xi.), I find that I had noted at the date of its publication, in 1872, the reported occurrence in the British Islands of 212 North American birds belonging to 42 different species. Omitting a few of these which have proved to be of doubtful authenticity, but adding some that I had overlooked, and a few others that have since occurred, we have in round numbers about 220 instances of the occasional appearance in Great Britain of North American birds. Of the forty-two species above referred to, five have been birds of prey, fourteen Passeres and Picariæ, one Columba, fourteen Grallatores, and eight Natatores.
I have now to add another to the list of passerine birds, in the shape of the American Migratory Thrush (Turdus migratorius), familiarly known as the American Robin.
In the month of September last I received a letter from Lieut. Charles Pope, of the 24th Regt., then stationed at Dover, in which he informed me that a friend of his had in his possession, alive, a remarkably coloured Thrush which he was unable to identify. It had been observed to fly in from the sea in a very exhausted state
- ↑ See "The Distribution and Migrations of North American Birds," by Spencer F. Baird, in the 'American Journal of Science and Arts' (vol. xli., January, March, and May, 1866). Reprinted in 'The Ibis,' 1867, pp. 257–293.
