118 ON PROCURING SPECIMENS OF BRITISH LAND BIRDS 



even it I have heard at times to chirrup forth a fragment of music ; the 

 usual call note of the pied fly-catcher is extremely dolorous, whence its 

 specific name, luctuosa. t 



The different thrushes (Merula*, Ray) should be procured in winter, 

 as their plumage acquires no additional beauty in the spring, and as 

 they are then, moreover, generally cleaner than at any other season. 

 Of the blackbird (M. vulgaris) several specimens are necessary ; its first 

 plumage is mottled, like that of a young robin or nightingale ; and the 

 male may then be distinguished by being of a darker colour, and by the 

 spots on its breast being generally more distinct. On their first moult, 

 the males become wholly black, with the exception of the quill feathers, 

 which, with those of the tail, are not changed till the succeeding autumn ; 

 the females, after their first moult, resemble the adult birds, only that the 

 colour of the bill is not changed. Some female blackbirds have hand- 

 some spotted breasts, and I have seen some in which the bill is nearly 

 as yellow as the male's ; generally, however, the bill of an adult hen 

 blackbird is only yellow at the base : that of the cock becomes yellow 

 the first spring, and of an orange colour the second, at which time the 

 bird has acquired its full beauty. The fieldfare (M. pilaris) varies very 

 much ; several specimens should therefore be obtained, and the finest 

 of them selected for preserving ; the female is smaller than the male, and 

 its colours and markings less distinct ; examples of both sexes should be 

 preserved. A cock missel thrush (M. viscivora) should have the ground 

 colour of the breast a fine rich sulphur yellow, and the spots well defined ; 

 the female is rather smaller, paler all over, and its spots in general very 

 small ; a young bird should also be procured in its mottled nestling fea- 

 thers. Three specimens of the song thrush CM. musica) are necessary, 

 representing the male, female, and young ; the breast of the male, in 

 this species, is usually of a deeper colour, and the spots smaller and 

 better defined than in the other sex. The same remark applies also to 

 the redwing (M. iliaca), though in both these species individuals 

 frequently occur, the sex of which can only be distinguished by 

 dissection. 



A division has been made by some authors between the thrushes with 

 plain, and those with spotted breastsf , but I think without sufficient 



* As the central genus of the Merulidce, or birds of the thrush kind, Mr. Selby 

 has (I think with propriety) adopted Ray's name, Mcrula, for this genus, in pre- 

 ference to the subsequent appellation Turdus, of Linnaeus. E. B. 

 . f All the species have the breast more or less spotted when young. E. B, 



