THE ROCK-THRUSH. 218 



MONTICOLA SAXATILIS. 



THE ROCK-THRUSH. 



(PLATE 8.) 



Turdus merula saxatilis, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 238 (1760). 



Turdus saxatilis, Linn. Si/st. Xat. i. p. 294 (1766) ; et auctorum plnrimorum 



Bechstein, Wolf, Pallas, Vieillot, (Blyth), (Locke), (Heuglin), (Newton), 



(Dresser), &c. 



Lanius infaustus . minor, Gmd. Syst. Nat. i. p. 310 (1788). 

 Turdus infaustus (Gmel.), Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 335 (1790). 

 Saxicola montana, Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. L p. 185 (1816). 

 Monticola saxatilis (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552. 

 Petrocincla saxatilis (Linn.), Vigors, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 396 (1826). 

 Petrocossyphus saxatilis (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 972. 

 Sylvia saxatilis (Linn.), Sari. Orn. Tosc. i. p. 218 (1827). 

 Saxicola saxatilis (Linn.), Riipp. Xeue Tf'irb. Vog. p. 80 (1835). 

 Petrocichla saxatilis (Linn.), Keys. w. Bias. H'irb. Eur. pp. 1, 175 (1840). 

 Orocetes saxatilis (Linn.), Horsf. $ Moore, Cat. B. Mius. E.I. Co. i. p. 189 (1854). 

 Petrocinla saxatilis (Linn.), Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 29 (1856). 

 Petrocinchla saxatilis (Linn.), Neict. List B. Eur. Blasius, p. 9 (1862). 



The occurrence of the Rock -Thrush, in England is only accidental ; but 

 two specimens are known to have been taken, and one more is said to have 

 been identified but not secured. Both these captures were first recorded 

 by Yarrell. In the first instance (19tb May, 1843) the bird was obtained 

 by a Mr. Joseph Trigg, who shot it at Therfield in Hertfordshire, while it 

 was sitting on an ash-tree. The second specimen, of which Yarrell omits 

 to state the locality, was shot by a gamekeeper, who only preserved its 

 head and neck, sufficient evidence however to refer it to the present 

 species. A specimen of this bird was also seen and followed for two miles, 

 in June 1852, near Robin Hood's Bay, by a Mr. Bedlington, who, however, 

 failed to secure it (see ' Naturalist/ 1856, p. 21). The Rock-Thrush breeds 

 across Southern Europe as far north as the Hartz Mountains, and east- 

 wards through Persia, Turkestan, and South Siberia, as far as Lake 

 Baikal, South-east Mongolia, and North China. It passes through North 

 Africa on migration, where a few remain to breed, and winters in 

 Senegambia and Abyssinia. Eastwards its winter range extends to the 

 borders of India and into North Burma. 



The haunts of the Rock-Thrush embrace some of the wildest of scenes. 

 Its summer home is amongst the rocky gorges of the mountains, in and 

 amongst old^i'uins, ravines, and rough broken ground strewed with rock- 

 fragments, with here and there a few stunted trees or bushes. On the 

 Parnassus I found this bird inhabiting the wildest districts up to the pine- 



