PASSERINiE. 279 



Thrushes. It is the Turdus leucurus, Lath., Synops. II, pi. 

 38;(1) or the Saxicola cachinnans , Tern. 



Sylvia, Wolf and Meyer. Fioedula, Bech. 



The beak a very little narrower at base than in the preceding. 

 They are solitary birds, generally nestling in holes, and feeding on 

 insects, worms and berries. There are four species in France. 



Mot. nibicola, L. ; Rouge-gorge, Enl. 361, Ij Naum. 75, 1, 2. 

 (The Stonechat.) A brown grey above; throat and breast red; 

 belly white; builds near the ground in the woods, is prying and 

 familiar. Some of them remain during the winter, and seek 

 for refuge from the extreme cold in houses, where they soon 

 become tamed. 



Mot. suecia, L.; Gorge-bleue, Enl. 361, 2; Naum. 75, 3, 4, 5. 

 Brown above, blue throat, red breast, white belly; rarer than 

 the preceding, nestles on the edge of woods and marshes. 



Mot. phcBnicurus, L.; Rossignol de muraille, Enl. 351; Naum. 

 79, 1, 2. Brown above; throat black; breast, rump, and lateral 

 quills of the tail, light red; it nestles in old walls, and has a 

 soft song, with something of the modulations of the Nightingale. 



Mot. erithacus, tytys, gibraltariensis, atrata, Gm. ; Edw. 29; 

 Naum. 79, 3, 4. Differs from the preceding, and principally 

 in the breast, which, as well as the throat, is black. It is much 

 more uncommon.(2) 



CuRRuoA, Bechst. 



A straight beak, slender throughout, slightly compressed before; 

 the upper mandible a little curved near the point. The most cele- 

 brated of this subgenus is 



(1) Add to the saxicolae, Mot. caprata, Enl. 235; M. fulicata, Enl. 185, 1; M. 

 pkilippensis, lb. 2; thepatre, Vaill. Afr. p. 180. 



And to the wheat-ear, M. kucotkoa, Enl. 583, 2; the imitateur, Vaill., Afr. 181, 

 Id.; the familier. Id. 183 ; the montagnard, Id. 184; the fourmillier, 186; Mot. 

 leucomela, Falc. Voy. Ill, xxx, and Col. 257, 3. Add, Saxic. aurita, t.. Col. 257, 

 1; S. monacha. Col. 359, 1; S. deserti, lb. 2. 



The Mot. cyanea, Gm., Lath., Syn. II, pi. lili, has the beak of a Saxicola, and 

 only differs from it in having- a rather long-er tail. Vieill. Gal. 163, has placed it in 

 his genus Merion or Maluuus, afterwards converted into a receptacle for all kinds 

 of birds with elongated and cuneiform tails, such as the Merion hride. Tern. Col. 

 385, which is a Thrush; the M. natte and the M. kucoptere, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. 

 de Freycin. pi. 23, which approach the Coly,- the Jl^teur of Vaill. (M africana), 

 Afr. 112, which is closely allied to Synallaxis, &c. 



(2) Add the Blue bird of Amer. Mot. sialis, Enl. 590; 3Iot. Calliope, Lath. Syn. 

 Supp. I, front. [See App. XVII of Jim. Ed.] 



