( 146 ) 



The wings of ten primaries are 

 usually long and pointed, and the tail 

 of twelve feathers, usually square or 

 rounded. The plumage is mostly plain 

 brown or black, often varied with 

 white, gray, chestnut or rufous. There 

 is a decided tendency to a white breast 

 spotted brown, and the plumage of 

 nestlings is almost always spotted. 



Thrushes are largely terrestrial and 

 insectivorous in their habits, though 

 some of them also eat fruits. 



The family numbers between five 

 and six hundred species, with re- 

 presentatives in all parts of the globe. 

 Twenty-three species reach the Yangtse 

 Valley. 



CHINESE BLACKBIRD. 



PLANESTICUS MANDARINUS (Bp). 

 [Merula mandarina (Bp).] 



Description. — Length eleven and one 

 half inches. Bill yellow. Tarsus, 

 feet, and claws, nearly black. Iris 

 brown. 



Mature birds are dull black all over 

 the entire body. In younger bii'ds 

 the throat and breast are quite 

 perceptibly streaked, and the black is 

 decidedly more dusky. 



Distribution. — Central and south 

 China, west even to Szechuen Province. 

 A common resident in the Yangtse 

 Valley. 



Nest and Eggs. — The nests is usually 

 built some distance above the ground, 

 in the large forks of trees, or on the 

 wide base of a limb. It is made of 

 grasses or small twigs, cemented 

 together with mud ; frequently bits of 

 papers are found embedded in the 

 structure. We have recently found a 

 nest built in an old nest of a Magpie. 



