418 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Europe, from Pyrenees to Alps, higher mountain-ranges of south 

 Germany, east to Balkans and Carpathians. On passage obtained 

 in Asia Minor, where it possibly breeds, also in Cyprus. 



TURDUS MERULA 



174. Turdus merula merula L. THE BLACKBIRD. 



TURDUS MERULA Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 170 (1758 Europe. 



Bestricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Turdus merula Linnaeus, Yarrell, i, p. 280 ; Saunders, p. 13. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 15). Adult male. Winter. Whole bird glossy 

 jet-black, inner margin of wing -feathers greyish. This plumage is 

 acquired by complete moult Aug.-Oct. (occasionally not complete 

 until Nov.-Dec.). Summer. No regular moult, but frequently 

 some body -feathers are moulted in March. Abrasion makes wings 

 browner. 



Adult female. Winter. Crown, nape and mantle very dark 

 umber ; back, rump and upper tail-coverts slightly less brown and 

 more blackish ; lores freckled with paler brown ; above lores a 

 dull greyish line ; ear -coverts dark umber with whitish-brown 

 shaft-lines ; apex of chin uniform pale grey ; whole throat pale 

 grey to buffish-grey streaked dark umber to rufous-brown ; upper- 

 breast pale umber to rufous-brown, each feather with darker, 

 somewhat triangular mark at tip varying in shape and strength ; 

 lower-breast and belly varying pale brown to grey-brown, feathers 

 often with whitish edgings and pale shaft-lines ; sides of breast and 

 belly rather darker with usually some spots as on upper-breast : 

 flanks and under tail-coverts umber with pale shafts ; axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts brown with pale shafts and often with 

 rufous tips and edgings ; tail brown-black ; wing-feathers brown- 

 black with greyish margins to inner webs and outer webs deep 

 umber ; wing -coverts deep umber. (N.B. There is much individual 

 variation in colour of under-parts, rufous tinge being sometimes 

 scarcely noticeable, often strong and occasionally even of a pinkish- 

 chestnut tint, dark markings vary greatly in intensity, ground- 

 colour of throat varies from very pale grey to dull huffish-grey, 

 belly from brown with whitish-brown edgings to dark slate-grey 

 with pale grey edgings.) Summer. Abrasion makes upper -parts 

 rather browner, and when much worn under-parts lose much of 

 rufous tinge and many of dark spots. 



Nestling. Down, fairly long but rather scanty, pale buffish- 

 grey. Distribution, inner supra-orbital, occipital, humeral, ulnar 

 and spinal. Mouth inside deep yellow, no spots ; externally 

 flanges yellowish-white. 



Juvenile. Male. Crown, hind-neck, mantle and scapulars 

 dark umber, each feather with rufous mesial streaks, broader on 



