4 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



who mentioned this species as " singing in the north in 

 December." 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : 



Turdus tmisicus. Song Thrush Generally diffused. 



The Thrush is a resident species, abundant in most districts 

 in the summer months, quite the reverse during the winter, 

 and though the numbers were markedly reduced by the 

 Arctic winters of 1878-79, and 1879-80, and again in 1894-95, 

 it is now quite as numerous as before. In the wilder portions 

 of the county it becomes scarcer, and while it is almost un- 

 known on the moorlands, its occurrence in Nidderdale has 

 been recorded up to at least twelve hundred feet. The York- 

 shire Thrushes are partially migratory ; on the approach 

 of autumn the great majority move south, many, however, 

 stay with us during the drear months, along with immigrants 

 from the north. The resident birds enliven us by their cheery 

 song during the finer days of winter, and until the main 

 body returns in the earliest days of spring. 



This bird, being a summer visitant to Scandinavia r 

 migrants from the north, as we might naturally expect, 

 arrive on our shores during October and November (see 

 British Association Report), along with Fieldfares and Red- 

 wings. Two were captured on a vessel, fourteen miles off 

 Whitby, on 7th October 1833 (Edward Blyth). The British 

 Association Migration Reports contain many entries, too- 

 numerous for recapitulation here, respecting this autumn 

 movement, from which it may be gathered that the great 

 " rushes " of these birds occur in October, and generally 

 about the middle of that month. At this season they are 

 sometimes found dead below the lighthouses ; several were 

 killed against Flamborough light in the autumn of 1888. 

 The winter migration, due to the severity of the weather, 

 occasionally extends beyond the usual period, and almost 

 overlaps the return passage ; thus in 1892 I noticed Thrushes 

 migrating from N.E. on the 24th of January. In the spring 

 these hyperborean Thrushes again visit us on their north- 

 ward passage, and at Flamborough Lighthouse, on the early 



