TEE ROCK THE USH. 229 



face of nature. As the Thrush is one of the sweetest, so ho is also 

 one of the earliest of singers. Gilbert White gives from the 6th. to 

 the 13th. of January as the period of the commencement of his joyous 

 strains, and Burns records his pleasure in hearing one of these birds 

 sing thus early in the year, in a sonnet beginning — 



"Sing on, sweet Thrush, upon the leafless bough; 

 Siug on, sweet bird, I listen to thy strain: 

 See aged winter, 'mid his surly reign. 

 At thy blithe carol clears his furrowed brow." 



Few birds sing with greater animation than the Thrush, as the 

 following anecdote, related by Bishop Stanley, will testify: — "In the 

 garden of a gentleman in Sussex, a Thrush had for some time perched 

 itself on a particular spray, and made itself a great favourite from 

 its powerful and constant singing, when one day it was observed, by 

 the gardener, to drop suddenly from the bough in the midst of its 

 song. He immediately ran to pick it up, but found it quite dead; 

 and upon examination, discovered that it had actually broken a blood- 

 vessel by its exertion, and thus perished." 



THE EOCK THRUSH, 



( Turdus saxalilis.') 

 PLATE XV. FIGURE II. 



This species, according to M. Temminck, inhabits the highest rocky 

 mountains, and is found in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Appenines. 

 It is also met with occasionally along the coasts of the Meditcn-anean, 

 and in France, Germany, and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. 



Mr. Yarrell states that a specimen was shot by Mr. Joseph Twigg, 

 at Therfield, near Royston, in the county of Hereford, on the 19th. of 

 May, 1843; and it is recorded that another individual was killed in 

 this country by a gamckeepei", but neither date nor locality is given. 



The male, which is about seven and a half inches in total length, 

 has the bill black, the legs and feet reddish brown, and the irides 

 dark brown. The head and neck are bluish grey. The back is of 



