AVES. 31 



4. Turdics merida. Linn. Syst. Nat. i., p. 295. Blackbird. 



The Blackbird is a permanent resident, scattered in every part of the 

 country, and remaining to breed, even in the sultry Ghor. It is nowhere 

 abundant, perhaps one of the very rarest of all the resident species, and 

 is one of the most retiring and shy of the inhabitants of the thickets. 



The range of the blackbird is throughout all Europe, except its Arctic 

 borders, and all North Africa, the Azores and Madeira. It does not 

 appear to roam eastward of the Ural Mountains, but is found in Asia 

 Minor, Syria, and sometimes, in winter, in Persia. The species of 

 Affghanistan is distinct, and has been named Mertda maxima. 



5. Monticola cyanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i., p. 296. Blue Thrush. 



The Blue Thrush is, in the localities where it occurs, one of the most 

 conspicuous birds of the country. In all its habits it is very different 

 from the rock thrush. It resides throughout the year, singly or in pairs, 

 among rocky wadys, in ruins, and especially in cliffs by the sea-shore. 

 It is in the habit of perching on conspicuous ledges, and does not avoid 

 villages where there is a ruined keep, on the top of which it perches, 

 uttering its somewhat monotonous song. Its breeding places are niches 

 in caves or in the vomitoria of Roman amphitheatres. On the shore 

 it feeds on shrimps. It is supposed to be ' the Sparrow that sitteth 

 alone on the house-top ' of Scripture. 



The Blue Thrush ranges throughout Southern Europe, from the 

 Pyrenees and Alps, through Northern and North-eastern Africa as far 

 as Abyssinia, and eastward as far as Yarkand and North-western India. 

 Beyond these Eastern limits its place is supplied by the Manilla Thrush, 

 Monticola solitaria. 



6. Monticola saxatilis. Linn. Syst. Nat. i., p. 294. Rock Thrush. 



The Rock Thrush is in Palestine, south of Lebanon, only a passing 

 traveller, tarrying but a night. It arrives in large flocks in the beginning 

 of April, hopping rather than flying over the country, as it progresses 

 northwards. I saw one of these flocks on the 8th April, passing over 

 Mount Gerizim. In 18S1 I saw another similar flock near Damascus. 

 In Lebanon and Hermon it remains in pairs, and breeds on the bare 

 rocky hills. 



