266 TURDID^. 



ing of its eggs the Song-Tlirusli seems to stand almost alone 

 among birds. The cock takes his share in incuhating ; hut 

 does not sit so long as the hen, though he often feeds her 

 while she is upon the nest. The young are hatched in about 

 thirteen days, and the parents carry off the shells, while 

 they have also been observed to swallow the faeces of their 

 offspring. Two broods at least are reared in the season. 



Towards the end of summer our native Thrushes receive 

 a considerable accession in numuer from the birds that arrive 

 from the north ; but in most localities these strangers depart 

 after a short sojourn, and are accompanied by the great bulk 

 of the homebred birds. Sufficient of the latter, however, 

 remain throughout the year to give rise to the general belief 

 that in Britain at least, the Song-Thrush is not a migratory 

 species, though its seasonal movements have long been noticed ; 

 and in some parts of this island it may be stated as a fact 

 that not a single bird can be seen from the end of Novem- 

 ber to the end of January or beginning of February. 



The Song-Thrush is universally spread over the British 

 Islands, with the exception of the Shetlands ; but it is 

 worthy of remark that examples from the Hebrides, where 

 the species is very numerous, are smaller and darker in 

 colour than those from the mainland. It has not been 

 found further to the north-west, but it has a high northern 

 range in Norway and Sweden, breeding at least as far as in 

 lat. G8° N. Thence it may be traced across the Piussian empire 

 to the shores of the Pacific, for Dr. von Middendorff met 

 with it breeding at Udskoi-Ostrog, while Mr. Gould has a 

 specimen from Foochow in China, which according to Mr. 

 Swinhoe does not difter from European examples so much as 

 they differ among themselves. Its distribution in Asia is as 

 yet indeterminable, but it has not hitherto been recorded 

 from India or Persia ; it occurs, however, in Armenia, while 

 it is a winter visitor to Palestine and Arabia, extending its 

 flight at that season also to Egypt and Nubia. It is very 

 common in autumn in Algeria and the Barbary coast, and 

 even strays to Madeira. Within the limits thus indicated it 

 is everywhere a more or less common species ; Init in the 



