104 TURDUS TORQUATUS. 



Young. — Bill deep brown, the angle of the mouth orange. 

 Iris dark brown. Feet and claws pale brown. The plumage 

 of the upper parts is brownish black, the feathers tipped with 

 black, and edged with dark reddish-yellow ; the outer edges 

 of the secondary quills and their coverts pale yellowish-grey, as 

 are those of the primaries and their coverts, which however 

 are narrower ; the smaller wing-coverts with a central streak 

 of yellowish. The outer tail-feathers are edged, and all mar- 

 ginally tipped with pale grey. The lower parts are also 

 brownish-black ; the throat and middle part of the fore-neck 

 yellowish white, with which colour the rest of the feathers are 

 barred near the end. The lower tail-coverts have a longitu- 

 dinal white spot along the shaft, their tip yellowish. 



Remarks. — In examining two specimens on the 2d of October, 

 I was surprised to find in both numerous entire seeds, and por- 

 tions of skin and even pulp of the berries of the Mountain Ash 

 in the intestines, having escaped the action of the gizzard, and 

 the solvent power of the various fluids. This is the only in- 

 stance in which I have found seeds and large fragments of 

 vegetable matter in the intestine of a bird. A similar observa- 

 tion was made by me on opening a large Tortoise from Trinidad, 

 which had been three months alive in this country, and yet 

 had portions of its intestines filled with Tamarind seeds, which 

 it must have eaten along with the pulp in its native country or 

 on the passage. In both cases, there must have been diseased 

 action. Indeed the Tortoise died of inflammation of the lungs ; 

 but no disease was apparent in the Thrushes. The dissemina- 

 tion of plants by birds in this manner has often been alleged 

 or supposed by botanists, probably from analogy, as grains of 

 barley and other cereal plants are sometimes found in the dung 

 of horses ; but I have always discredited the notion, because 

 neither among the excrement of birds nor in their intestines, 

 have I ever found entire seeds, this instance excepted. 



