THE ROCK-THRUSH. 281 
MONTICOLA SAXATILIS. 
THE ROCK-THRUSH. 
(PxateE 8.) 
Turdus merula saxatilis, Briss. Orn, i. p. 238 (1760). 
Turdus saxatilis, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 294 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Bechstein, Wolf, Pallas, Vieillot, (Blyth), (Loche), (Heuglin), (Newton), 
(Dresser), &c. 
Lanius infaustus 8. minor, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 810 (1788). 
Turdus infaustus (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 835 (1790). 
Saxicola montana, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 185 (1816). 
Monticola saxatilis (Linn.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 552. 
Petrocincla saxatilis (Linn.), Vigors, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 896 (1826). 
Petrocossyphus saxatilis (Linn.), Bote, Isis, 1826, p. 972. 
Sylvia saxatilis (Linn.), Savi, Orn. Tose. i. p. 218 (1827). 
Saxicola saxatilis (Linn.), Riipp. Neue Wirb. Vog. p. 80 (1835). 
Petrocichla saxatilis (Linn.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. pp. 1, 175 (1840). 
Orocetes saxatilis (Linn.), Horsf. § Moore, Cat. B. Mus. EL. Co. i. p. 189 (1854), 
Petrocinla saxatilis (Linn.), Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 29 (1856). 
Petrocinchla saxatilis (Zinn.), Newt. List B. Eur, Blasius, p. 9 (1862). 
The occurrence of the Rock-Thrush in England is only accidental ; but 
two specimens are known to have been taken, and one more is said to have 
been identified but not secured. Both these captures were first recorded 
by Yarrell. In the first instance (19th May, 1843) the bird was obtained 
by a Mr. Joseph Trigg, who shot it at Therfield in Hertfordshire, while it 
was sitting on an ash-tree. ‘The second specimen, of which Yarrell omits 
to state the locality, was shot by a gamekeeper, who only preserved its 
head and neck, sufficient evidence however to refer it to the present 
species. A specimen of this bird was also seen and followed for two miles, 
in June 1852, near Robin Hood’s Bay, by a Mr. Bedlington, who, however, 
failed to secure it (see ‘ Naturalist, 1856, p.21).. The Rock-Thrush breeds 
across Southern Europe as far north as the Hartz Mountains, and east- 
wards through Persia, Turkestan, and South Siberia, as far as Lake 
Baikal, South-east Mongolia, and North China. It passes through North 
Africa on migration, where a few remain to breed, and winters in 
Senegambia and Abyssinia. Eastwards its winter range extends to the 
borders of India and into North Burma. 
The haunts of the Rock-Thrush embrace some of the wildest of scenes. 
Its summer home is amongst the rocky gorges of the mountains, in and 
amongst old ruins, ravines, and rough broken ground strewed with rock- 
fragments, with here and there a few stunted trees or bushes. On the 
Parnassus I found this bird inhabiting the wildest districts up to the pine- 
