244 BIRDS. 



Naum. 70. (The Ring Ouzel). Feathers black, partly edged with 

 white ; the breast marked with a shield of the same colour. 



The high mountains in the south of Europe contain two species, 

 the Merle de Roche; T. saxatilis,!^.; EnL562; Nanm. 73; and 

 the Merle bleu; T. cyanus, L. ; Enl. 250; Naum. 72, from which 

 the Merle solitaire; T. solitarius, L., does not differ*. The 

 first, which is most frequently found in the North, is the best 

 known; it builds on inaccessible cliffs, in ruins, and sings well. 

 The head and neck of the male are of a blue ash colour, the back 

 brown, rump white; beneath, and the tail, orange 'j'. 

 The name of Grives is given, in France, to those species, whose plum- 

 age is what is termed in that country grivele, that is to say, marked with 

 small black or brown spots. There are four of them in Europe, all with 

 brown backs and spotted breasts ; they are singing birds, which live on 

 insects and berries, migrate in large flocks, and whose flesh is an agree- 

 able food. 



T. viscivorus, L. ; La Drenne. (The Misle Thrush). Enl. 489; 

 Frisch, XXV ; Naum. 66, 1. Is the largest; the underpart of its 

 wings is white ; it is extremely fond of the misletoe, and contributes 

 to the dissemination of that parasitical plant. 



T. pilaris, L. ; La Litorne, Enl. 490 ; Frisch, xxvi ; Naum. 67, 

 2. Which is chiefly distinguished from the Viscivorus by the ash 

 colour on the top of its head and neck. 



T. musicus, L.; La Grive, properly so called, Enl. 406; Frisch, 

 xxvii ; Naum. 66, 2. Underpart of the wings yellow ; the best 

 songster of the four, and the one most commonly eaten. 



T. iliacus, L.; Le Mauvis, Enl. 51, Frisch, xxviii; Naum. 67, 

 1. (The Mavis.) The smallest of the whole number; under part 

 of the wings and flanks red J. 



The species of the genus Thrush, foreign to Europe, are very nu- 

 merous. We will particularly notice 



T. polyglottus, L. ; Catesb. xxvi. (The Mocking-Bird). From 

 North America; ash-coloured above, paler beneath, with a white 

 barnd on the wing. It is celebrated for the astonishing facility with 

 which it imitates, on the instant, the notes of other birds, and even all 

 kinds of sounds §. 



* Observation of Bonnelli. 



t It is possible, as is observed by Shaw, that it was by coufoanding it with the 

 Siberian Jay, that Linnaeus attributed to it the habits of a Havpy, and at one time 

 calls it Corvus, and at another, Lanius uifaustus. 



We may approximate to the saxatilis the Rocar, Vaill. Afr. 101 and 102— the Es- 

 pionneur, Id. 103. 



The foreign species, allied to the Solitary Thrushes by their speckled plumage, 

 are, Tw-dns manilknsis, Enl. 636; probably the same as T. violaceus, Sonnerat, 2d 

 Voy., pi. cviii.— r. eremila, Enl. 339. — T. varius, Horsf. — Myiothera Andromeda:, 

 Tem. Col. 392. 



X Two additional species have been taken, though very rarely, in Germany; the 

 Thrush, with the back mid flanh spotted with red {T. nmimanni), Naum. 68, and that 

 with a black breast and throat {T. Bechsleinii). Naum. 69. 



§ The Little Mocking Bird (7". Orpheus), Edw. 78; Le Moqueur de St. Domingue 

 {T.dominicus), Enl. 558, 1, are very closelv allied to it, as well as the T. gilmis, 

 Vieill.Am. 68. 



