Order 2. PASSERINE. 173 



Th« Black Merle, or Blackbird (T. merula, Lin.) — Maie entireiy black, with the bill and eyelids yellow; female 

 blackish brown, reddish and more or less spotted on the breast, [beak seldom wholly yellow. The plumage is soft, 

 and wing-s short and rounded]. A mistrustful species, which however is easily tamed, and sings finely, having 

 ever been taught to speak. [It is generally seen in pairs, and is at no season gregarious : appears to be peculiar 

 to Europe, being replaced by an allied species ( T. p,ecilopterm) eastward.] 



The Ring Thrush (T. torquatus, Lin.). — Black, with the feathers bordered with whitish, and a conspicuous white 

 gorget on the breast. [All the proportions of this bird exactly correspond, even to minutiae, with those of the 

 Fieldfare, which is placed by many systematists in a different named division. The Ring Thrush inhabits bleak 

 and upland moors, chiefly in the north of Europe, and migrates far southward at the close of autumn. It is a loud 

 but inferior songster, and common only in a few districts of Britain.] 



The lofty mountains of the south of Europe sustain two species (T. snxaiilis, Lin., and T. ci/anetis, hin.). The 

 first, which is more frequently seen northward, is better known. It sings finely, and nestles in steep rocks, or 

 ruined buildings. [These Birds, which with various others constitute the Petrocincla, Vigors, and have since 

 even been separated into minor groups, form a natural division apart from the other Thrushes, and are allied to 

 the Chats and Wheatears, which they much resemble in habit. They are not found in Britain.] 



The term Thrush is applied more particularly to the species with spotted plumage, that is to say, marked with 

 black or brown spots on the breast. There are several in Europe, which assemble in large flocks in winter, and 

 migrate southward. 



The Missel Thrush (T. viscivorus, Lin.) — Is the largest [with one exception] of the whole genus. [It is uniform 

 yellowish-brown above, and tinged with sulphur-yellow on the under parts, which are speckled with transverse 

 spots ; beneath the wings white. Is common throughout Britain, and resident at all seasons ; feeding princi- 

 pally on berries tne young alone associate in large flocks about October, which soon separate and disperse. This 

 bird is very wild and distrustful, except at the season of propagation, when it aflects the vicinity of human habi- 

 tations, and is remarkable for the spirit with which it attacks and drives away Magpies, &c. from near its nest, 

 littering a loud rattling screech : it always builds on trees ; and is a powerful but monotonous songster, heard 

 nearly throughout the year.] 



The Fieldfare Thrush (T. pilaris, Lin.). — Distinguished by the ash-colour of the neck and rump, [dark reddish 

 colour of the back, &c. Is remarkable for generally nestling in society, being gregarious throughout the year ; 

 visits Britain in large flocks about November, and departs late in spring; is the least musical probably of 

 the whole genus]. 



The Song or Mavis Thrush (7*. musictis, Lin.). — [Brown above, yellowish on the breast, which is spotted with 

 black; fulvous beneath the wings. It is the finest songster of the European species, and is seldom observed in 

 flocks in Britain, where it is resident at all seasons. This bird is a great destroyer of snails.] 



The Redwing Thrush (T. i/iacus, Lin.)— Smaller than the preceding, the flanks and beneath the wings, deep 

 rufous ; [back brown, inclining to olive green ; a conspicuous pale streak over the eye ; and longitudinal markings 

 on the underparts. This bird is a common winter visitant in Britain, arriving always some weeks before the 

 Fieldfare, and keeping in more straggling flocks, the individuals of which depart gradually in spring, and not 

 simultaneously, as in that species. It is an inferior songster. 



Allied to the Fieldfare, Redwing, and Ring Thrushes, are numerous foreign species, two of which — of interme- 

 diate character to those mentioned — occur in Eastern Europe, T. Naumanni and T. atrogiilaris ; others, related to 

 the Redwing and Mavis, all of which are proper to the eastern parts of Asia, including Japan, have slaty-black 

 plumage, more or less relieved, to which group the T. sibiricus, which has also been met with in the east of 

 Europe, appertains. There are foreign species of this extensive genus intermediate, in every possible way, to all 

 those of Europe : some are found almost everywhere. 



In a gioup inhabiting Australia, the Indian Archipelago, and slopes of the Asiatic mountains, the dorsal 

 plumage is mottled at all ages ; a character peculiar to the nestling dress of the others. One species belonging 

 to it (T. W/iitii, Eyton), the largest of all the Thrushes, resembles the Missel Thrush in its form and proportions, 

 and occasionally strays to the west of Europe, having been met with even in Britain : it is common on the southern 

 slopes of the Himmalayas. Another (T. varii/s, Horsf.) indigenous to Java, conducts to the lanihociiiclce, not only 

 by this style of marking, but by its soft puff>' plumage, short and rounded wings, and large bill and feet. 



Other Thrushes, peculiar to America, and breeding in the northern division of that continent, are solitary in 

 habit, and pass insensibly into the Nightingales ; successively diminishing in size ; having the bill gradually 

 w eaker and tarsi more elongated ; assuming even the russet tint and rufous tail of those birds, gradually losing 

 the bresst-spots, &c. Such are T. mustelinits, Gm., which difi'ers little from the true Thrushes, T. solitarius, 

 Wilsonii, and minor, which last is but arbitrarily separable frora the European Nightingales. 



A group now generally distinguished is that of 



The Mockers {Mimus, Bole ; Orpheus, Swains.) — 



Wherein the form is much more elongated, the wings shorter, and tail in particular .onger, and the 

 upper mandible more curved. 



The Mocking-bird of North America (Tardus polyglottns, Lin.).— One of the finest of song-birds, and remark- 

 able for its great facility of imitating almost any sound. 

 There are several others, all of them peculiar to America. 

 The Thrushes form a great centre of radiation, which ramifies in every direction, and graduates till the normal 



