TDBDUS MUSICUS 5 



is never wanting ; but I know of no instance of this being the case, 

 at any rate in Tunisia, although Mr. C. Dixon, when travelhng in the 

 Province of Constantine, seems to have met with the Song-Thrush 

 sparingly in the Aures Mountains as late as the month of May (Ibis, 

 1882, p. .568). After the end of March an occasional straggler may be 

 met with in the Regency, but such cases are rare, and from Marocco 

 I have no note of the species' occurrence later than April '2nd. Mr. 

 0. V. Aplin, who was collecting for me in Tunisia in 1895, found the 

 Song-Thrush at Gafsa in the south, as late as March 26th, but he 

 never came across the species during his sojourn in the forests of 

 North Tunisia later on in the season. 



Throughout the winter and during the periods of passage, most 

 of the wooded hills in the neighbourhood of Kasrin and Feriana, in 

 Central Tunisia, simply swarm with Thrushes, and in particular those 

 where the wild olive and juniper flourish, the berries of these plants 

 being specially attractive to the birds, and probably forming their 

 principal aliment during the time they are in the country. Naturally 

 other food is eaten as well, as for several months of the year Thrushes 

 subsist more upon worms, snails and insects than they do upon 

 berries and fruit, and on the whole live more on animal than on 

 vegetable food. 



In its habits the Song-Thrush varies somewhat, according to the 

 season. During a considerable portion of the year it is more or less 

 seclusive, keeping to thick plantations and shrubberies, where it is 

 but httle seen or heard, but on the approach of spring it throws off 

 its shyness, and resorts to more exposed spots and to high trees, 

 from the topmost branches of which it pours forth its sweet and rich 

 song for hours together, particularly in the morning and evening. 

 At no time, however, can the bird be called sociable or really 

 gregarious, as even when migrating with others of its kind, each 

 bird seems to shift for itself, and acts independently of its fellows, 

 flying off singly, and, apparently, leading an entirely separate life. 



The migration of the Thrush appears to be effected solely during 

 the night and earliest morning hours. In most Continental countries 

 vast numbers of the species are snared during the periods of passage. 

 It has been stated by a competent authority [Ibis, 1902, p. 515), that 

 over one million Thrushes are annually slaughtered in Central Europe, 

 of which more than half are Song-Thrushes. This computation is 

 probably by no means exaggerated, but the reverse, as in Italy alone 



