GENUS TURDUS. 389 



DiSTEiBUTiON. — England. — Four. Male, Hythe (Kent) July 15, 

 1907. Male, Ninfield (Sussex) May 13, 1910 {ut supra). Male, 

 Westfield (Sussex) May 7, 1915 (H. W. Ford-Lindsay, Brit. Birds, 

 IX, p. 155). Male, West St. Leonards (Sussex) June 8, 1918 

 (J. B. Nichols, ojp. c, xii, p. 160). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — ^From south Herzegovina and south 

 Dalmatia throughout Greece and Ionian Islands to Asia Minor and 

 north Syria. Winters in south Arabia, Somaliland, and east Africa 

 (Mombasa). Replaced in south Caucasus, Persia, Mesopotamia, 

 Transcaspia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan by A. g. 

 familiaris, which winters in north-west India, Sind, and Rajpu- 

 tana, and has been recorded once from Heligoland. 



Genus TURDUS L. 



TuRDUs Linnajus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 168 (1758 — Type by sub- 

 sequent designation. Gray 1840 : T. viscivorus). 



Middle-sized, ten-primaried Oscines. BiUs more or less shorter 

 than head, culmen distinctly curved, cutting edge of upper 

 mandible distinctly notched anterior to tip. Rictal and nasal 

 bristles distinct. Nostril oval or roundish, partly covered by a 

 membrane and in varying degree by frontal feathering. Wings 

 long and pointed, longest primaries much exceeding secondaries. 

 1st primary generally much shorter than primary -coverts, sometimes 

 {T. merula) nearly as long. Tail usually with 12, but some (not all) 

 subspecies of T. dauma with 14 rectrices. Feet strong, tarsus in 

 front with sheath, only subdivided at base. Nests deep open cups, 

 eggs spotted. Almost cosmopolitan. By some ornithologists split 

 up into number of genera. 



Key to adults of species of genus Turd us. 



f Tail with 14 rectrices, strongly rounded . . T. dauma aureus, p. 390 



1 1 TaU with 12 rectrices, square or as good as 

 I square 2 



!3rd to 6th primaries with outer webs sinuated 

 (attenuated before middle) .... T. merula, p. 418 



3rd to 5th primaries with outer webs sinuated 3 



o ( Under wing-coverts white .... 4 

 i Under wing-coverts not white ... 5 



! Tail-feathers with some white at tips, upper- 

 parts greyish-brown T. viscivorus, p. 395 

 Tail-feathers luiiform, i.e., without white at tips, 

 rump grey, interscapulary region chestnut . T. pilaris, p. 392 



