282 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



the whit-whit of the Chaffinch. As he improves in voice he 

 sings louder and longer, until at last he almost approaches the 

 Nightingale in the richness of the melody which he pours forth. 

 Sometimes he will sing as he flies upwards, descending with ex- 

 panded wings and tail to alight on the highest bough of some low 

 tree, almost exactly as the Tree-Pipit does in the meadows of 

 our own land. When the females have arrived, there comes at 

 the end of his song the most metallic notes I have ever heard 

 a bird utter. It is a sort of ting-ting, resembling the sound 

 produced by striking a suspended bar of steel with another 

 piece of the same metal. The female appears to shun the 

 open far more carefully than her mate ; and while he will be 

 perched on a topmost spray, gladdening the whole air around 

 with his tuneful melody, she will remain in the undergrowth 

 beneath him, gliding hither and thither, more like a mouse 

 than a bird, through the branches." 



Nest. According to Mr. Seebohm, not unlike that of a 

 Robin, the hole being well filled with dry grass and roots, and 

 at the far end a neat, deep cup lined with fine roots and hair. 

 Even when the bird has been frightened off, and the place of 

 the nest assured, it is still difficult to find, so well is it con- 

 cealed. 



Eggs. Resemble those of the Nightingale, especially the 

 type of the latter where the ground-colour is bluish-green. 

 The spots are reddish, and either cloud the whole of the egg 

 or are collected at the larger end. Some, on the other hand, 

 are almost uniform olive-brown. Axis, 0*7-0*8 inch; diam., 

 o'55-o*6. 



THE ROCK-THRUSHES. GENUS MONTICOLA. 

 Monticola, Boie, Isis, 1833, p. 552. 



Type, M. saxatilis (Linn.). 



Though possessing a bill and general appearance like the 

 Thrushes, there is the character of the bright colours of the 

 male and the remarkable difference in the colour of the sexes, 

 which separate the genus Monticola from the true Turdida. 

 They seem to connect the Chats and the Thrushes, the red 

 tail being a feature which suggests an alliance with the Red- 

 starts. 





