452 PERCHhXG BIRDS 



snails, slugs, and worms on the one hand, and fruits and berries on the 

 other. All the British members of the group ma\- be included in the 

 typical genus Turdus, in which the beak is comparatively narrow, with 

 the bristles at the gape more or less strongly developed : as a rule, 

 there are twelve tail-feathers. 



In the t\pical group, as represented b)- the thrush and its immediate 

 relatives, the two se.xes are alike in colouring, and the axillar}- feathers 

 and under wing-coverts uniformly coloured. As regards the thrush 

 itself, the general colour of the upper-parts is olive-brown, but the 

 wings are marked with two more or less golden-buff bars formed b)' 

 the tips of the wing-coverts ; the throat, the lower part of the breast, 

 and the abdomen are white, the breast-feathers being tipped with 

 rounded dusky spots ; the sides of the head, and the neck and upper 

 portion of the breast are tawny yellow streaked and spotted with 

 dusky ; and the axillary feathers are golden buff. Hens are somewhat 

 smaller than cocks — which measure 9 inches in length — and are also 

 somewhat paler in colour. In young birds the feathers of the upper- 

 parts are mottled with buff. 



It may be mentioned here that there is some reason for regarding 

 the name Turdiis iliacus as referable to the present species rather than 

 to the redwing, but even if this be really the case, transposition seems 

 undesirable. Neither is it advisable to separate generically the thrush 

 and redwing from the mistle-thrush under the respective names of 

 HylocicJila niusica and H. iliaca, as is done by some writers. 



l^reeding throughout the British Isles, with the apparent exception 

 of the Shetlands, the thrush ranges all over Europe and eastwards 

 through northern and Central Asia as far as the Yenesei valley in 

 Siberia. In Scandinavia it may be found some distance within the 

 Arctic Circle, but in the colder climate of Siberia its northern range, 

 like that of so many birds, is somewhat more restricted. A partial 

 migration of thrushes takes place, a certain number of individuals 

 crossing the Mediterranean to winter in North Africa, while those 

 from the north of Europe move southwards ; similarly, a certain per- 

 centage of British birds cross the Channel, while others arrive from the 

 Continent to take the place of those which have travelled southwards, 

 either within the limits of Great Britain or by crossing the sea. 



The habits of the thrush are familiar to all ; and we need allude 

 only to its song — heard not unfrequentl)- in winter — to its habit ot 

 using stones on which to hammer to pieces the shells of the snails 

 which form so large a portion of its food, and its predilection for 

 strawberries and other fruit in summer. Less well known is the fact 



