THE TRUE THRUSHES. 259 



Eggs. — These are stated to be similar to and to vary as 

 much as those of the Blackbird, and measure i"i5-i*2 inch 

 in length, and from 07 5-0*8 in breadth. 



THE TRUE THRUSHES. GENUS TURDUS. 

 Turdus y Linn., Syst. Nat, i., p. 291 (1766). 

 Type, T. visa'vorus, Linn. 

 The birds which constitute the genus Turdus number among 

 them the Thrushes best known to us, such as the Song-Thrush, 

 and Mistle-Thrush, the Redwing, and the Fieldfare. In all of 

 these species of the genus the sexes are alike in plumage, and 

 the breast is spotted, while the young birds are also spotted on 

 the back. This spotted back is lost after the first autumn 

 moult, when the plumage is like that of the old birds, the only 

 sign of immaturity being seen on the wing-coverts, which 

 have a slight indication of a pale spot at their ends. Rictal 

 bristles are evident, and the tarsus has both its laminae smooth, 

 though in some young birds there is a tendency to a division 

 by a single scale or two. The True Thrushes are plentifully 

 represented in the Neotropical Region, fairly so in all other 

 regions except the Indo-Malayan sub-region and the Australian 

 region, where no True Thrushes occur. 



I. THE REDWING. TURDUS ILIACUS. 



Turdus iliacus, Linn., S. N., i., p. 292 (1766); Macg., Br. B., 



ii., p. 141 (1839); Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 268 (1872); 



Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 35, pi. 3 (1872); Seeb., Cat. B. 



Brit. Mus., v., p. 189 (1881) ; id. Hist. Br. B., i., p. 220 



(1883) ; B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 2 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. 



Fig. Br. B., pt. i. (1885) ; Saunders, Man., p. 5 (1889). 



Adult Male. — General colour above olive-brown, the lesser 



wing-coverts like the back; the median and greater coverts 



darker brown, edged with lighter brown, and tipped with buffy- 



white, more distinctly on the latter, the inner greater coverts 



margined with reddish-brown ; bastard-wing dark brown ; 



primary-coverts and quills dark brown, edged with lighter and 



more ashy-brown, with narrow whitish fringes near the tips; 



tail-feathers light olive-brown, shaded with ashy on the middle 



feathers, and showing obsolete cross-bars under certain lights ; 



s 2 



