84 Mr. A. Newton on the Migratory Habits of the Song Thrush. 



dissimilar ideas iu applying these terms indiscriminately to the 

 collective or particular mdividuals of a species, I wish to remark 

 that I believe the Song Thrush, throughout by far the greater 

 part of its geographical range, to be essentially migratory. It is 

 true that this fact has not been recorded by many writers in this 

 country ; but to mention the naturalists who have noticed it on 

 the Continent would be to enumerate almost every European 

 ornithologist of authority, from Sweden to Sicily. Of British 

 authors, however, Mr. Selby alludes (Brit. Orn. i. p. 163) to the 

 " considerable accession in number " which our native Song 

 Thrushes receive towards the end of autumn from the north, — a 

 remark which is quoted also by Mr. Yarrell (B. B. i. p. 195). 

 Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, in their " Account of Birds found in 

 Norfolk," state (Zool. p. 1306) that "in very severe winters, mawy 

 of the Song Thrushes appear to leave this district and to go 

 further south ;" while two foreign naturalists, MM. Dcby and 

 Duval-Jouve, in local lists which have been printed in this 

 country, speak in still more unqualified terms of the migration 

 of this species. The former, in his " Notes on the Birds of Bel- 

 gium," says (Zool. p. 861) that it is "very common in March and 

 April in spring, and on its return in September and October," 

 and further gives (Zool. p. 1133) "March 24" as the date of this 

 bird's arrival at Laeken in the spring of 1845. The latter, in his 

 " List of the Migratory Birds of Provence," not only includes it 

 among the " Regular Birds of Passage," but says (Zool. p. 1118), 

 " This is the bird of passage, par excellence, of our country," and 

 asserts that in its migration it crosses the Mediterranean. 



I may add that my own experience tends to show that all 

 these authors are right in their statements. Since the autumn 

 of 1849, my brother Edward and myself have paid much atten- 

 tion to the presence or absence of the so-called "resident'' 

 species of Turdus. The result of our observations is such as to 

 leave on our minds nt)t the slightest doubt of the regular migra. 

 tion of the Song Thrush, as far as concerns the particular locality 

 whence I write. Year after year we have noticed that, as sum- 

 mer draws to a close, the birds of this species (at that season very^ 

 abundant) associate more or less in small companies. As autumn 

 advances, their numbers often undergo a very visible increase, 



