WHITE'S THRUSH 



461 



Of the Siberian black-throated thrush, or ouzel {Turdits atrigiilai'is), 

 an example was taken alive in Sussex in the year 1868, and a second 

 specimen obtained near Perth in 1879. An equally rare straggler 

 is the Siberian ^xo\!iX\(^-'Cc\x\X'&\\ {Ttirdus \Geocichla\ sibirica), z. member 

 of a subgenus in which the axillary feathers and under wing-coverts 

 in both sexes are of two colours ; the arrangement of these two 

 colours being reversed in the two areas. That is to say, if the 

 axillary feathers are white-tipped, the under wing-coverts will be 

 dark-tipped. Of the Siberian bird, one example was killed in Sussex 

 in the severe winter of 1860-61, while there is considerable reason to 

 believe that a second was obtained in the Isle of Wight in 1874. 



White's Thrush ^^^^^"^ White's thrush (so named after the historian 

 (Turdus varius) °^ Selborne) we come to a species of which a con- 

 siderable number of stragglers have been taken in 



the British Isles. The species, which is frequently described as 



Oreocichla varia, belongs to a group which while agreeing with the 



typical spotted thrushes 



in the identity in the 



colouring of the two 



sexes, differs in that both 



the axillaries and under 



wing-coverts are of two 



colours, with their 



arrangement reversed in 



the two areas. The 



under-parts are spotted, 



and the bristles at the 



gape fewer than in the 



typical thrushes. White's 



thrush further differs 



from most other thrushes 



in having fourteen in 



place of the usual twelve 



tail-feathers ; but two other members of the same group (which is 



mainly restricted to the Indo-Australian countries) present the same 



peculiarity. 



In addition to its fourteen tail-feathers. White's thrush is 



distinguished by its curiously spotted plumage, and also by its 



large size, the total length being i 2 inches. On a golden-buff ground 



the feathers of the upper-parts display a number of large crescent- 



WHITE S THRUSH. 



