TURDIN.^. 





WHITE'S THRUSH. 



TuRDUS VARius, Pallas. 



This boldly-marked species, rather larger than the Mistle-Thrush, 

 belongs to a group known as the 'Ground' Thrushes {Geockhla), 

 characterized by a partiality for woodland glades, where insects, 

 which constitute their principal food, are obtained among the dead 

 leaves. Owing to this habit, the large size, mottled plumage, 

 and low undulating flight, several of the White's Thrushes obtained 

 in this country have at first been mistaken for AVoodcocks. The 

 earliest recorded British example was shot in January, 1828, in 

 Hampshire ; receiving a scientific as well as a trivial name in 

 honour of White of Selborne, from Eyton, who supposed the 

 species to be undescribed. Other individuals have since been 

 obtained in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Shrop- 

 shire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Durham ; once in Berwick- 

 shire ; and in Ireland in counties Cork, Longford, and INIayo. 

 Most of these occurrences have been in the winter, and only one in 

 October. 



On Heligoland more than a dozen have been taken in September 

 and October, and on the return migration up to the 23rd of April. 



