THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 249 



the fore-neck are of similar colour; several rows of the black 

 triangular spots characteristic of the Thrushes run down from the 

 lower mandible, merging into each other ; and smaller spots of 

 the same kind are found scattered on the throat and forehead, very 

 frequently, too, on the upper part of the grey-clouded upper breast ; 

 here they merge with rows of spots, so as to fonn large blackish- 

 brown spots on the sides. The upper breast and flanks of the 

 bird are marked on the same plan as in the Fieldfare — i.e. the 

 feathers of the head are blackish-brown — this colour passing into a 

 dull ferruginous colour at the sides of the breast and flanks, all 

 the feathers having dark grey edges, those of the upper breast 

 being very narrow, but becoming verj' broad further down so as 

 almost to hide the ground colour. Towards the middle of the 

 breast some of the feathers have small, blackish, kidney -shaped 

 spots. The middle of the breast and the abdomen are of a dull 

 white, the under tail-coverts dark ferruginous colour, their shafts 

 being whitish, and their tips having white spots so Large as almost 

 to completely hide the rust colour of the ground. 



In general the bird nowhere shows any approach to the oUva- 

 ceous grey colouring of the upper parts of the other Thnishes, nor 

 does its dark ferruginous (rostroth) coloration approximate to the 

 beautiful orange brown (rostoran>je) of Naumaim's Thrush. 



The measurements of the bird caught here, taken from the 

 freshly-killed exaiaple, are as follows : — Total length, 90.5 ins. 

 (230 ram,.); length of wing in repose, .5-31 ins. (13.5 ram.) ; length 

 of tail, 4'41 ins. (112 rara.): length of tail uncovered by wings, 

 165 in. (42 rara.) ; length of beak, od in. (15 Tnm.) ; length of 

 tarsus, 1-06 in. (27 rara.). 



Before the capture of the above-named Thrush in my garden 

 on the 1 0th of October, I had seen in the same place on the Sth, a 

 Yellow-browed Warbler (Sylvia, superciliosa,) ■. on the 11th, a Little 

 hunting (Eraheriza pucsilla) was shot; while the Siberian Chiffchaff 

 (<S'. tristis), and S. sv.perciliosa, were seen on the same day ; on the 

 25th, a beautiful »S'. superciliosa was shot, and on the following 

 day an example of the same species and one of E. pjiisilla were 

 seen. A S. superciliosa had already been observed on the 16th ; 

 on the 17th, hundreds of thousands of Siskins covered the whole 

 island, and passed in cloud-like droves; and on the same day I 

 obtained a young grey autumn bird of the Rosy Pastor {Stumua 

 roaeus). 



Seebohm, in the coiu^e of his interesting Siberian voyage, found 

 some nests of this Thrush on the Lower Jenesei ; thence its breed- 

 ing range extends eastwards through northern Asia. 



