MISSEL THRUSH. 117 



grey. There is a cream-coloured band from the base of the 

 upper mandible to above the eye ; the loral space greyish- 

 white. The general colour of the lower parts is pale ochre 

 tinged with red, each feather tipped with a black spot. The 

 throat is dull white, with faint spots. On the fore-neck the 

 spots are triangular, on the breast and sides transversely ob- 

 long, on the abdomen small and transverse. The lower tail- 

 coverts have two longitudinal dusky bands parallel to the shaft, 

 their medial part and tip white, their margins ochre-yellow. 

 The axillar feathers and lower wing-coverts white. 



Length to end of tail 114 inches; extent of wings, 19?; 

 bill along the ridge {§, along the edge of lower mandible I5 ; 

 wing from flexure 6^ ; tail 41 ; tarsus 1/j ; first toe /j, its 

 claw /g; second toe -^^^ its claw /g '■> t^^i^d toe \\, its claw 

 ^\ ; fourth toe, l\, its claw {^. 



Female. — The female does not differ very perceptibly from 

 the male in colour or size, being merely a little paler, and 

 slightly smaller. The digestive organs are similar in dimen- 

 sions. The oesophagus four inches long, its average diameter 

 four-twelfths and a half ; the stomach an inch and a quarter in 

 its greatest diameter ; the intestine seventeen inches long, its 

 diameter varying from five to three twelfths ; the coeca three 

 twelfths of an inch long, and an inch and a half distant from 

 the anus. 



Length to end of tail 11 inches; extent of wings 19 ; bill 

 along the ridge /g' along the edge of lower mandible \\ ; wing 

 from flexure 6^ ; tail 4| ; tarsus l^^ ; middle toe and claw li- 



Vakiations. — Between adult individuals compared at the 

 same season, there are scarcely any apparent differences. White 

 and, variegated birds are said to occur, but I have not met with 

 any. A bird in the museum of the University of Edinburgh 

 is in all probability a hybrid between the Missel Thrush and 

 Blackbird, the upper parts being similar to those of a young 

 Missel Thrush, while on the lower black is the predominant 

 colour, as it also is on the head, and although there are irregular 

 light-coloured markings on the neck and breast, there are none 



