204 BRITISH BIRDS. . 
GEOCICHLA SIBIRICA. | 
SIBERIAN GROUND-THRUSH. 
Turdus sibiricus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii. p. 694 (1776); et auctorum pluri- | 
morum— Vieillot, Temminck, Gould, Bonaparte, Gray, Newton, Dresser, &c. i 
Turdus auroreus, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. 1. p. 448 (1826, 2). ; 
Turdus leucocillus, Pallas, Zoog:. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 450 (1826, ¢). . 
Turdus atrocyaneus, Homeyer, Isis, 1843, p. 604. 
Turdus mutabilis, Temm. fide Bonap. Compt. Rend. Xxxviii. p. 5 (1854). 
Cichloselys sibiricus (Pall.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 5 (1856). 
Grescincla sibirica (Pall.), Jaub. et Barth.-Lapomm. Rich. Orn. p. 202 (1859). 
Oreocincla inframarginata, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxix. p. 106 (1860). 
Turdus inframarginatus (Blyth), Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 254 (1869). 
Geocichla mutabilis (Temm.), S. Miller, fide Blyth, Ibis, 1870, p. 167. 
Merula sibirica (Pall.), Dyb. Journ. Orn. 1872, p. 437. 
Turdulus sibiricus (Pall.), Hume, Stray Feath. vi. p. 255 (1878). 
Geocichla sibirica (Pall.), Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus, v. p. 180 (1881). ; 
t 
The only claim of the Siberian Ground-Thrush to be included in the list 
of British birds rests upon a single example which was sent to Mr. Bond ~ 
by a dealer who informed him that it was a variety of the Redwing that — 
had been shot between Guildford and Godalming in the winter of 1860-61. 
The evidence is not very satisfactory. There can be no doubt that dealers 
are under very great temptation to pass off foreign skins as British-killed. 
Although it is the boast of Englishmen that they are more truth-speaking 
than any other race, it is unfortunately the fact that amongst our shop- 
keepers and merchants there are many who do not scruple to le for the 
sake of gain. But although ornithologists are perfectly justified in looking 
with suspicion upon examples of rare birds whose only authentication as 
British-killed is the word of a dealer, there does not seem to be any 
reasonable ground for doubt in the present case. Twenty years ago skins 
of the Siberian Ground-Thrush were so rare in collections that it would 
have been extremely difficult for a dealer to procure one, and the price was 
so high that the temptation to obtain an extra profit by passing a foreign 
skin off as British can scarcely be said to have existed. So far as is known, 
the Siberian Ground-Thrush is confined during the breeding-season to 
Eastern Siberia; and this fact may of itself be supposed to be an argu- 
ment against its occurrence on our shores, were it not for the circumstance — 
that the accidental appearance of Siberian birds in Europe is so common. 
One of the most extraordinary facts connected with that most extraordinary 
island of Heligoland is that these accidental occurrences occur almost re- 
gularly. I am not aware that the Siberian Ground-Thrush has occurred 
on Heligoland ; but I have lately examined a female of this species in the 
collection of my friend Eugene von Homeyer which was shot on the 25th 
of August 1851 at Elbing, near the Guif of Danzig. Other occurrences in — 
Europe have been recorded, from the Hartz Mountains, from Upper Silesia, 
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