793 



MERULID^E. 



MERULIDJE. 



791 



coverts and primary quill feathers deep brownish-red, the latter tipped 

 and edged externally with yellowish-white; the first two-thirds at 

 least of the inner vanes of these feathers are of a clear buff-colour, 

 darkest towards the shafts ; secondary wing-coverts and secondary 

 and tertiary quill-feathers dark grayish-brown, the outer vanes lightest, 

 all margined externally and tipped with dirty white. Eyes reddish- 

 brown; upper mandible and tip of lower inferiorly as well as the 

 claws liver-brown ; lower mandible elsewhere pale saffron-yellow, as 

 well as the cutting edge of upper mandible. Feet and iusides of the 

 bill deep straw-yellow. 



Figure robust and rather short. Bill long and moderately strong ; 

 upper mandible broad and slightly depressed towards the base, narrow 

 and distinctly notched near the tip ; culmen between nostrils elevated 

 and rounded, towards the point of the bill strongly curved ; nasal 

 fossae large and membranous, the nostrils narrow longitudinal slits 

 near to the edges of the mandible ; wings short and rounded, and 

 when folded they reach over the first half of the tail ; the first quill- 

 feather rudimentary, the third rather the longest; the second and 

 fourth of equal length, and scarcely shorter than the third ; the fifth 

 a little shorter than the fourth, and the remaining primaries diminish 

 in length successively. Tail short and slightly forked. Legs long, 

 tarsi robust, anteriorly indistinctly scutellated, posteriorly entire; 

 toes strong, the inner and outer toea of the same length ; claws strong, 

 much curved and pointed. Length from point of bill to tip of tail 

 8 inches 6 lines. 



The female differing but little in colour, if at all, from the male. 

 (Smith 



Turdut itrepltans, male. Smith. 



Dr. Smith states that immediately upon reaching Kurichane this 

 thrush began to appear in the thickets, and he continued to acquire 

 occasionally a specimen even in the vicinity of the tropic. It seeks, 

 he says, its food upon the ground, and, when so occupied, its resort 

 is readily discovered by the natives from the noise it makes in 

 scratching the ground, or in displacing rubbish and decayed leaves 

 which conceal the insects it is seeking. The name by which it is 

 known in the country it inhabits is, he informs us, characteristic of 

 the vigour with which it employs its feet, and the nearest translation 

 he can give is ' Ground-Scraper.' 



Dr. Smith further remarks that the form of its bill, particularly 

 towards the base, the length of its legs, and the shortness of its tail, 

 are all characters which remove it from the more typical species of 

 the gen us Turdus ; but yet there is in its structure and habits what 

 necessarily constitutes it a true thrush. (' Illustrations of the Zoology 

 of South Africa.') 



T. muttdinta (Gm.) is an American Thrush. It appears to be the 

 Tardiu melodut of Wilson and Tawny Thrush of Pennant, and is 

 generally known as the Wood-Thrush. It is of a bright cinnamon-brown 

 above, brightening into rufous on the head, and inclining to olive on 

 the rump and tail; beneath whitish, thickly marked with pencil- 

 shaped dusky spots ; vent pure white ; orbits of the eye white ; bill 

 dusky-brown, slightly notched, lower mandible flesh-coloured towards 

 the base ; leg and claws very pale flesh-colour ; iris dark chocolate. 

 I/ength 8 inches; alar extent 13 inches. (Xuttall). 



Nuttall states that this solitary and retiring songster inhabits, 

 during p-.immer, the whole continent from Hudson's Bay to Florida, 

 and, according to his friend Mr. Ware, breeds as far south as the 

 vicinity of Natchez, in the State of Mississippi. He remarks that it 

 is not satisfactorily ascertained whether the species quits the boundaries 



of the United States in winter, because the bird is then silent, and 

 always difficult of access. He thinks it probable that this Thrush may 

 winter in the Southern States, as a young bird, gleaning insects and 

 berries, had been caught in a garden in Boston on the 26th of October. 



But, wherever the \Vood-Thruah may winter, it arrives in the 

 Middle States from the 1st to the 15th of April. Nuttall thus 

 describes its song and habits : 



" At the dawn of morning he announces his presence in the woods, 

 and from the top of some tall tree rising through the dark and shady 

 forest he pours out his few clear and harmonious notes in a pleasing 

 reverie, as if inspired by the enthusiasm of renovated nature. The 

 prelude to this song resembles almost the double tonguing of the 

 flute, blended with a tinkling, shrill, and solemn warble, which 

 re-echoes from his solitary retreat, like the dirge of some sad recluse 

 who shuns the busy haunts of life. The whole air consists usually of 

 four parts or bars, which succeed, in deliberate time, and finally 

 blend together in impressive and soothing harmony, becoming more 

 mellow and sweet at every repetition. Rival performers seem to 

 challenge each other from various parts of the wood, vying for the 

 favour of their mates, with sympathetic responses and softer tones ; 

 and, some wageing a jealous strife, terminate the warm dispute by an 

 appeal to combat and violence. Like the Robin and the Thrasher, in 

 dark and gloomy weather, when other birds are sheltered and silent, 

 the clear notes of the Wood-Thrush are heard through the dropping 

 woods, from dawn to dusk, so that, the sadder the day, the sweeter 

 and more constant is his song. His clear and interrupted whistle is 

 likewise often nearly the only voice of melody heard by the traveller, 

 to mid-day, in the heat of summer, as he traverses the silent, dark, 

 and wooded wilderness, remote from the haunts of men. It is nearly 

 impossible by words to convey any idea of the peculiar warble of this 

 vocal hermit, but amongst his phrases the sound of ' 'airSee,' pecu- 

 liarly liquid, and followed by a trill, repeated in two interrupted bars, 

 is readily recognisable. At times their notes bear a considerable 

 resemblance to those of Wilson's Thrush, such aa ' 'eh rhehu 'vrehu,' 

 then varied to "eh villia villia, 'eh villia vrehu,' then, ' 'eh villa villu,' 

 high and shrill. 



" The wood-thrush is always of a shy and retiring disposition, 

 appearing alone, or only in single pairs, and, while he willingly 

 charms us with his song, he is content and even solicitous to remain 

 concealed. His favourite haunts are low shady glens by watercourses, 

 often rendered dark with alder-bushes, mantled with the trailing 

 grape-vine. In quest of his insect prey he delights to follow the 

 meanders of the rivulet, through whose leafy shades the sunbeams 

 steal only in a few uninterrupted rays over the sparkling surface of 

 the running brook. So partial is this bird to solitude, that I have 

 known one to sing almost uniformly in the same place, though nearly 

 half a mile from his mate and nest. At times, indeed, he would 

 venture a few faltering low notes in an oak near his consort, but his 

 mellowest morning and evening warble was always delivered from a 

 tall hickory, overtopping a grove of hemlock firs, in which the dimness 

 of twilight prevailed at noon. The Wood-Thrush, like the nightingale, 

 therefore, feels inspired in darkness, but, instead of waiting for the 

 setting sun, he chooses a retreat where the beams of day can seldom 

 enter. These shady retreats have also an additional attraction to our 

 thrush ; it is here that the most interesting scene of his instinctive 

 labour begins and ends, here he first saw the light, and breathed into 

 existence, and here he now bestows his nest in a sapling oak, or in the 

 next thick laurel or blooming alder, whose berries afford him an 

 ample repast in the coming autumn. Outwardly it presents a warm 

 bed of withered beach or oak leaves, above these a layer of coarse 

 old grass and leaf-stalks is laid, tempered with a mixture of mud and 

 decayed wood smoothly plastered, so as to form a crust like the nest 

 of the robin. The whole is then surmounted by a thin lining of the 

 black fibrous radicles of the fern." 



Wood-Thrush (Turdui muteHn\u). 



The same author states that the eggs, which are four or five in 

 number, are scarcely distinguishable from those of the robin, nnd of 



