TURDUS.] AVES INSESSORES. 101 



helices; or, when these cannot be obtained, on berries. Suffers more 

 from very severe weather than the Fieldfare. Retires northward in the 

 Spring to breed. 



(3.) T. varius, Horsf. Zoolog. Research, in Java. Linn. Trans, vol. 

 xin. p. 149. 



A bird, supposed to be of this species, was shot by Lord Malmesbury in 

 a small gorze-covert, in the parish of Heron Court in Hampshire, Jan. 24, 

 1828. It being a native of Java, it is not easy to conjecture by what acci- 

 dent it could have reached this country. The plumage, however, was in 

 very fine condition, and did not exhibit any marks of confinement. 



** Plumage uniform ; the ground colour black. 



39. T. Merula, Linn. {Blackbird.) Plumage wholly 

 black. 



T. Merula, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. i. p. 168. Blackbird, Mont. 

 Orn. Diet. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 167. pi. 45. f. 4. and pi. 43. f. 4. 

 Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 120. 



DIMENS. Entire length ten inches eleven lines; length of the bill 

 (from the forehead) eleven lines, (from the gape) one inch three lines ; 

 of the tarsus one inch six lines ; of the tail four inches eleven lines ; 

 from the carpus to the end of the wing five inches : breadth, wings 

 extended, sixteen inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) The whole of the plumage deep black: orbits, 

 bill, and inside of the mouth, bright yellow : irides and feet dusky brown. 

 (Female.) Upper parts dusky brown: throat pale brown, with spots of a 

 darker tint ; breast reddish brown ; abdomen and under tail-coverts dark 

 cinereous brown: bill and legs dusky brown. (Young newly fledged.) 

 Upper parts dusky brown, as in the female, but with reddish streaks on 

 the head, nape, upper part of the back, and lesser wing-coverts, occupy- 

 ing the shafts of the feathers : throat and breast reddish brown, obscurely 

 spotted with dusky. (Egg.) Light blue, speckled and spotted with light 

 red brown; occasionally uniform blue without spots: long. diam. one 

 inch two lines; trans, diam. ten lines. 



Equally common with the Thrush, and like that bird a constant resi- 

 dent in this country. Food the same. Commences its song in the Spring, 

 a little later than that species, and ceases a little earlier. Habits soli- 

 tary. Nest formed of moss, twigs, and roots, plastered internally, and 

 afterwards lined with the finer grasses. Eggs four or five in number; 

 hatched the beginning of April. 



40. T. torquatus, Linn. (Ring-Ouzel.) Plumage 

 black, edged with gray : a crescent-shaped white spot on 

 the breast. 



T. torquatus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. i. p. 166. Ring-Ouzel, Mont. 

 Orn. Diet, and Supp. Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 169. pi. 44. f. 2. 

 Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 122. 



DIMENS. Entire length eleven inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) The whole plumage black ; all the feathers edged 

 with ash-gray : on the upper part of the breast a large crescent-shaped 

 gorget of pure white : bill and legs dusky. (Female.) Plumage more 



