264 



LLOYD S NATURAL HISTORY. 



and the yellow of the under parts is much deeper and the spots 

 smaller than in the adults. 



Eange in Great Britain. — Breeds everywhere throughout the 

 British Islands, but has not yet been known to nest in the 

 Shetlands. The birds from the Outer Hebrides are said to be 

 smaller and darker than those from the mainland. In autumn 

 a considerable migration of Thrushes takes place, many of our 

 home-bred birds moving southward, while many more visit 

 us from the Continent. 



Range outside the British Islands. — Breeds generally throughout 

 the Palaearctic Region to the valley of the Yenesei. In 

 Norway it is found slightly beyond the Arctic Circle, but 

 in Siberia it only occurs up to about lat. 6o°. In the 

 Jura, the Pyrenees, and Northern Spain, the Song-Thrush 

 breeds high up in the mountains, but in Southern Europe 

 it is better known as a winter visitor : it also winters in 

 North Africa, but is said to have occurred as far south as 

 Nubia. To the eastward it comes in winter to the Persian 

 Gulf. In Northern and Western China it is replaced by 

 Turdus auritus, which differs slightly in colour and has the 

 second primary shorter than the sixth, whereas in T. musicus 

 it is longer than the fifth. 



Habits.— With the exception of the Robin and the Blackbird, 

 the Song-Thrush is probably the most familiar species to all 

 people in these islands, for it is not only found universally, 

 but is such a general favourite that it is everywhere prized as a 

 cage-bird. There is scarcely any excuse, however, for keeping 

 this pretty songster in a cage, for it is so common that its song 

 can be heard in every kind of situation throughout the country, 

 and is much more freely given in the wild state. It is, in the 

 opinion of most people, by far the finest songster that we have, 

 for, if it lacks the richness of tone of the Nightingale and some 

 of the Warblers, the song is far more sustained and varied. The 

 clever attempt of Macgillivray to put its song into words is 

 familiar to most of my readers, and need no longer be re- 

 produced, and though this is one of the best word-imitations 

 of a bird's song ever published, it does not give a full idea of 

 that of the Thrush, for the simple reason that the bird never 

 sings its song in the same order consecutively. When the 



