HOCK-THRUSH. 295 



grey, passing into brownish-black on the scapulars ; the lower 

 part of the back white, varied with a few bluish-grey feathers; 

 tail chestnut-brown, the two middle feathers rather darker 

 than the others; wings and wing- coverts dark brown, almost 

 blackish-brown ; the greater wing-coverts and secondaries 

 tipped with buffy- white ; the body beneath, and lower tail- 

 coverts, light chestnut-brown or bay : legs and toes dark 

 reddish-brown. 



The whole length seven inches and a half ; the wing from 

 the carpal joint to the end of the longest quill four inches and 

 three-quarters. 



The female has the body above of a dull brown ; on the 

 back are some large white spots edged with brown ; throat 

 and sides of the neck pure white, some of the feathers occa- 

 sionally varied with ash-brown ; all the other lower parts 

 reddish-white, with fine transverse lines at the end of each 

 feather ; tail light bay, the two middle feathers ash-brown. 



A young bird of the year, killed near Geneva in July, 1850, 

 and kindly lent to me by Captain G. J. Johnson, formerly of 

 the Coldstream Guards, has all the upper parts light ash- 

 brown, each feather terminated with a spot of greyish- 

 white. Wing-quills tipped with buffy- white : wing-coverts 

 edged with grey and tipped with b uffy- white ; tail red; the 

 two middle feathers greyish-black ; the body beneath some- 

 thing like that of the adult female, but more varied with 

 white, which is again intersected with brown lines. 



Mr. Blake-Knox has recorded (Zool. s.s. p. 2019) the occur- 

 rence in Westmeath, on the 17th of November, 1866, of an 

 example of the Blue Thrush (Monticola cyanus), which is 

 now in the Museum of the Eoyal Dublin Society. The 

 southern range of this species, even though it has occurred 

 as a straggler in Heligoland, seems to render its enrolment 

 as a " British" bird inexpedient. 



