406 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



tarsus 29-31, bill from skull 20-22 (12 measured). O wing 113-119. 

 Primaries : 1st 8-14 mm. shorter than primary -co verts, 3rd and 

 4th longest {4th occasional!}^ 1 mm. shorter), 2nd 3-6 shorter, 5th 

 5-7 shorter, 6th 15-19 shorter ; 3rd to 5tli emarginated outer webs. 

 Outermost tail-feathers very slightly shorter than rest, 12 feathers. 

 Other structure as in White's Thrush. 



Soft parts. — Bill black-brown, base of lower mandible yellow ; 

 legs and feet yellowish-brown ; iris dark brown. 



Characters. — No subspecies. Prominent eye-stripe, chestnut 

 under-wing and want of chestnut on primaries and secondaries 

 and upper wing-coverts (see T. eunomus) distinguii-h it from other 

 British Thrushes. 



Field-characters. — Size of Song-Thrush but readily distinguished 

 by broad buflfish -white superciliary stripe and chestnut-red flanks 

 and axillaries. Gregarious like Fieldfare, with which it often 

 consorts. Call-note, a whispered "seep," often reveals raigi-ating 

 birds after dark in October and November and again in March and 

 April. Real song, resembling that of Song-Thrush but sweeter, 

 never heard in this country, but flocks babble in chorus in tree-tops 

 on sunny days, a subdued warble punctuated by fluty " trui.'" 



Breeding-habits. — Though sometimes breeding close to Fieldfare 

 colonies it is not sociable in breeding-habits, nesting in trees, bushes, 

 stumps, or often on banks and broken ground. Nest. — Built of 

 grasses, twigs and earth, lined grasses and sometimes a few lichens 

 or bits of moss on outside. I^ggs. — 5-6, Avith greenish ground and 

 usually fine markings of reddish-brown, considerably smaller than 

 those of most Ttirdidce. Average of 50 eggs, 25.8 X 18.7 mm. Breed- 

 ing-season. — Most eggs are laid in June and July, but also in latter 

 half May : double brooded. Incubation. — 14-15 days, chiefly at any 

 rate by female, but relieved by male about mid-day. Fledging- 

 period. — Young leave nest in 11-14 days, before they are fully 

 feathered. 



Food. — Worms, mollusca (snails, including Helix aspersa, slugs, 

 Limax and Arion, and lacustrine mollusca), insects (coleoptera, 

 larvae of lepidojotera and diptera, orthoptera, etc.), and on sea-shore, 

 Crustacea, etc. Also berries of hawthorn, yew, rowan, holly, 

 Vaccinium, etc., and on Continent grapes in autumn. 



Distribution. — British /sZes.— Winter- visitor and passage-migrant 

 (mid-Sept, to April and mid-Ma3^ Early dates Aug. 11, Cumber- 

 land, Aug. 26, CO. Down. Late dates June 1, Fair Isle, June 9, 

 Northumberland, July 5, Cumberland). Generally distributed. 



Migrations. — British Isles. — Similar to those of the Fieldfare. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Breeding in north Europe and north 

 Asia, including Iceland, south in Europe to north-east corner of 



