102 TURDUS TORQUATUS. 



grey, and the shafts of the lower tail-coverts white. There is 

 a broad semilunar patch of white, curving forwards, at the 

 junction of the neck and breast. 



Length to end of tail Hi inches ; extent of wings 19 ; bill 

 along the ridge li ; along the edge of lower mandible 1/^; 

 wing from flexure 5^^ ; tail 4| ; tarsus \^^ ; hind toe y^j, 

 its claw i'^2 ; second toe ^^, its claw /^ ; third toe Ij;^, its 

 claw 4^ twelfths ; fourth toe 8g twelfths ; its claw ^^. 



Feaiale. — The female is similar to the male, but of a duller 

 and lighter tint. The bill is brownish-yellow, the base of the 

 upper mandible dusky ; the iris brown ; the feet as in the male. 

 The colour of the plumage is dark chocolate brown, the wings 

 having the feathers margined with brownish-grey. The patch 

 on the breast is brownish- white, with semilunar marks of pale 

 brown, the tips being of the latter colour. The feathers of the 

 throat, breast, belly, and under part of the tail, are edged with 

 white, and the latter have a white line along the middle. 



Length to end of tail 10| ; extent of wings 18 ; bill along 

 the ridge 10^ twelfths ; tarsus l/g ; middle toe and claw 1 i^*g. 



Habits. — The Ringed Thrush arrives in the south of Scot- 

 land about the middle of April, and departs in the beginning 

 of October. It betakes itself at once to the open, hilly, and 

 mountainous tracts, where it prefers the shelter of the juniper, 

 furze, and heath bushes, to that of woods or thickets. Ex- 

 tremely shy and vigilant, it seldom permits a near approach, 

 but betakes itself to flight on the least alarm. Its manners 

 however are very similar to those of the Blackbird, and as I 

 have studied them with some attention, I am enabled to speak 

 with certainty respecting them. A few individuals are found 

 here and there among the Lammermoor and Pentland Hills, 

 generally in the vicinity of masses of furze and juniper ; and I 

 have met with the species in several other parts of Scotland, 

 and even in the island of Skye. Indeed it was there, in the 

 magnificent valley of Coruisk, that I first became practically 

 acquainted with it, having accidentally met with a whole 

 brood accompanied by their parents, in July 1818. There, on 



