FIELDFARE THRUSH. 107 



There is a row of small bristle-feathers along the base of the 

 upper mandible. A few very slender undivided filaments pro- 

 ject from among the feathers of the occipital region, whence 

 the specific name pilaris, or hairy ; but these filaments are not 

 peculiar to this species, being equally conspicuous in the 

 Missel Thrush and others, nor even to the genus, as they are 

 seen in the Redbreast and many small birds besides. The 

 wings are long, broad, semi-ovate, with nineteen quills ; the 

 primaries rounded, the secondaries truncato-rotundate, with a 

 minute acumen ; the first quill extremely small and narrow, 

 the third longest, the fourth next, and scarcely longer than the 

 second ; the third, fourth, and fifth cut out on the outer web 

 towards the end. The wings when closed reach to about the 

 middle of the tail-feathers. The tail is long, nearly even, the 

 feathers narrow, rounded and acuminate. 



The bill is orange at the base, brownish -black at the end, 

 with a larger space of the lower mandible of the former colour ; 

 the inside of the mouth also orange, the edges of the eyelids 

 yellow, the iris brown, the feet and claws dusky. The head, 

 cheeks, and hind-neck are ash-grey, the forehead slightly 

 tinged with brown, and most of the feathers on the upper part 

 of the head having a central dusky streak. The anterior half 

 of the back and the wing-coverts are chestnut brown, the pos- 

 terior half shaded into ash-grey. The wing-coverts are greyish- 

 brown, edged with paler, the primary coverts slightly tipped 

 with grey ; the alula, primary -coverts, and quills, greyish-black, 

 margined with pale grey, the secondaries, however, having the 

 greater part of their outer webs brown. The tail is of a deeper 

 black, the lateral feathers greyish toward the end. The fore- 

 neck and breast are light yellowish red, marked with elongated 

 triangular brownish-black spots ; the sides paler and marked 

 with larger broadly rounded acuminate spots ; the middle of 

 the breast and belly greyish-white, tinged with red ; the lower 

 tail-coverts white, marked on either side with dusky. The 

 lower wing-coverts and axillar feathers pure white, and con- 

 spicuous when the bird is on wing. 



Length to end of tail lOf ; extent of wings l7i ; bill along 

 the back j^jj, along the edge of lower mandible \l ; wing from 



