THRUSH. 



801 



portion of the length of the United States ; for, ex- 

 cept in the south, numbers of the birds remain in the 

 coast country to breed. All along the line, however, 

 they collect toward the shores in great numbers when 

 the winter is severe. 



The length of the bird is about nine inches and a 

 half; the bill shorter in proportion than that of the 

 wood thrush, and yellow ; and the feet dark brown, 

 with very strong black claws. The head, neck be- 

 hind, and tail, are black ; and the intermediate por- 

 tion of the upper part ash colour ; the wings black, 

 margined with ash ; the inner tips of the two lateral 

 tail leathers white. There are three small spots of 

 white near the eyes, and the throat, which is black in 

 the ground colour, is streaked with white. The upper 

 part of the breast is black, and the remainder of it, as 

 i'ar as the thighs, bright orange red. The last is the 

 part of the marking from which the bird gets the 

 popular name of the robin. Behind this reddish 

 colour the under part is white, varied with longitudi- 

 nal streaks of dusky ash colour. The females have 

 all the colours paler, especially the red on the breast. 

 The nest is built in trees and bushes ; the external 

 part, as in the others, plastered with mud. The eggs 

 are generally five, and of a fine aquamarine green, 

 without any markings. In summer the birds feed 

 chiefly upon insects and worms, and in winter upon 

 different kinds of berries, especially those of the poke 

 (phytolacca), a plant the berries of which have a rich 

 carmine-red juice, and the young shoots are eaten as 

 asparagus ; but the whole of the plant has very 

 active medicinal qualities, which, it is said, the berries 

 communicate to the flesh of the birds that feed 

 upon them. Otherwise the flesh of these birds is 

 held in high estimation, and they may be had in very 

 great numbers; for they extend over the whole 

 breadth of North America, as well as the length, and 

 congregate upon the low grounds when the weather 

 is severe. 



RUST-COLOURED THIIUSH (T. rufus). This is the 

 largest of all the American thrushes, being nearly a 

 foot in length ; but it is not proportionally so well 

 winged as most of the others, the extent of the wings 

 being only about an inch and a half more than the 

 length. The upper parts are bright reddish brown, 

 with two bars of white, margined with black, on the 

 wings ; and the tips and inner webs of the quills 

 dusky. The tail is very long and broad, rounded at 

 the end, and of the same reddish brown as the body. 

 All the under parts are yellowish white, but with the 

 breast and the sides under the wings beautifully 

 marked with longitudinal rows of long and pointed 

 black spots. The bill short, stout, and without any 

 notch in the upper mandible, but the upper mandible 

 projecting over the tip of the lower, and having its 

 base bent with strong and stiff hairs ; the general 

 colour black, but the basal part of the lower mandible 

 whitish. The legs very stout, and of a brownish 

 ochre yellow ; the irides of the eyes bright yellow. 

 'I he female has less white on the wings than the 

 male, and the black markings on the breast and sides 

 less elegant and less conspicuous. In other respects 

 there is but little apparent difference. This is popu- 

 larly called the brown thrush, and also the thrusher, 

 though for what reason the latter name has been 

 given to it does not very clearly appear. The song 

 of this thrush is pleasant, not unlike that of the song 

 thrush of Europe; and the bird is rather a favourite, 

 though probably not upon that ground on which he 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



is most entitled to favour. In the nesting time he 

 consumes a vast number of ground beetles and their 

 larvse, more especially those which are so destructive 

 to the crops by eating the roots in the ground. In 

 clearing away those noxious creatures he sometimes 

 pulls up the young plants ; and therefore, as is the 

 case with the rook when performing a similar service 

 to our fields, he is sometimes accused of injuring the 

 crops. The nests are formed in May, generally in 

 the cover of a thick bush near the ground, composed 

 first of sticks, then of dry leaves, and lastly of vege- 

 table fibres, but without any plastering of mud. The 

 eggs are usually five in number, of a pale bluish co- 

 lour, and speckled over with small spots of a rusty 

 brown colour. There are in general two broods in 

 the year. These birds are of gentle disposition, and 

 bear confinement tolerably well ; but, like the rest of 

 the class, they are seen and heard to the greatest 

 advantage in free nature. 



SOLITARY THRUSH ( T. solilarius). This is a se- 

 cluded and comparatively a silent species, inhabiting 

 the close vegetation of some of the swamps in the 

 southern parts of the United States, and having little 

 song, being upon the whole one of the most retiring- 

 birds of the whole family. It is a small bird, and 

 has been described as the " little thrush " (T. minor], 

 though the same name has been given to other spe- 

 cies. It is only seven inches in length, and ten in 

 the expanse of the wings. The upper parts are deep 

 olive brown, withoul; any markings ; the lower parts 

 dull white ; the ear-coverts, the throat, and the upper 

 part of the breast, are dull cream colour, the latter 

 marked with longitudinal spots of blackish brown ; 

 the margins of the wings paler than the rest of the 

 upper part, and the tips of the quills dusky ; the tail 

 forked, and it and its upper coverts fox colour ; the 

 bill black, with the exception of the basal part of the 

 lower mandible, which is whitish : the legs dusky ; 

 and the irides black. The nest is usually placed in 

 a tree or bush, against the upper side of a branch, 

 and it is very compactly formed, but without any 

 admixture of inud or plaster. The outside is formed 

 of the dried roots of grass united with smaller and 

 more flexible fibres, or with horse hairs if these are to 

 be had in the locality ; and the inside is finished 

 with very fine vegetable fibres. The eggs are four 

 or five, of a pale greenish blue colour, with blotches 

 of olive most numerous and conspicuous near the 

 thick end. 



WILSON'S THRUSH (T. Wihonii). This species 

 was, we believe, first noticed by Wilson, and by him 

 called the tawny thrush, with a caution that it should 

 not be confounded with the tawny thrush of Pen- 

 nant's " Arctic Zoology," which Wilson says is the 

 species which he has described as the wood thrush. 

 These birds appear to breed in regions farther to 

 the north than the United States, as they appear in 

 the middle states only in the autumn, and again in 

 the spring. The length is about ten inches, and the 

 stretch of the wings a foot. The upper parts are 

 tawny brown, and the under parts white, with a tinge 

 of ash colour where they meet on the sides of the 

 lower part of the breast and under the wings. The 

 upper part of the breasl. and the throat are dull cream 

 colour, but the chin is white; the breast marked with 

 pointed spots of brown ; the shafts of the tail-feathers 

 projecting beyond the webs ; the bill black, with the 

 xception of the base of the lower mandible, which is 

 flesh-coloured; the angles of the gape vellow ; the 

 EEE 



