348 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



THE THRUSH GENUS 

 [F. B. KIRKMAN] 



i 



The Thrush 1 genus gives its name not only to the Sub-Family 

 (Turdince), but to the whole of the great family to which it belongs 

 (Turdidce). The genus itself is found distributed over the larger part 

 of the globe, from Japan to California, from Iceland to Cape Colony, 

 and in every climate from equatorial to arctic. It has in its ranks 

 songsters of the first order, pre-eminent among them being our song- 

 thrush. Though most of its species are of relatively sober hue, there 

 are not a few that can claim to be brightly coloured, for to the 

 prevailing greys, browns, or blacks they add fine hues of red, such 

 as may be seen on the flanks of the redwing or the breast of the 

 American-robin (T. migratorius), a bird of the size of the fieldfare, 

 resembling our robin only in the colour of its breast, and in those 

 characters which are common to the Sub- Family (Ttirdince) to which 

 both belong. 



Of the two hundred or so known species the names of eleven only 

 appear on the list of British Birds. 2 Of these two are of doubtful 

 occurrence, and three others but rare and occasional visitors. 3 The 

 remaining six form the subject of this section. Three, the song-thrush, 

 blackbird, and mistle-thrush, are resident species ; one, the ring-ouzel, 

 is chiefly known as a summer visitor ; and two, the fieldfare and red- 

 wing, come to us only for the autumn and winter. 4 Four have spotted 

 plumage of the type of the mistle-thrush, and two, the blackbird and 

 ring-ouzel, are black in the male sex, the black in the case of the ring- 



1 When the term "Thrush " (with a capital T) is used in this chapter, it refers to the genus ; 

 the term " thrush" being used as synonymous with song-thrush. 



2 The genera Merula and Geocichla are here merged into Turdus. 



3 See the list at the end of the " Classified Notes." 



* The term " resident " means that individuals of the species are to be found in our Isles all 

 the year. Some are stationary, others are migrants. See the " Classified Notes." 



