18 OtR ^-ATR'E SONGSTERS. 



flew. I thought it had been tlie Italian blackbird 

 Avith notes different from those of our own, for 

 its song was partly that of the blackbird, and 

 partly that of the storm-cock ; but not so loud 

 as the last, nor so varied as the first. I found 

 out my mistake in due time ; and on seeing that 

 the bird was the true solitary thinish, I paid 

 particular attention to its habits." 



" It is indeed a solitary bird, for it never associates 

 Avith any other, and only with its «nvn mate in 

 breeding-time ; and even then it is often seen 

 (|uite alone upon the house-top, where it warbles 

 in sweet and plaintive strains, and continues its 

 song as it moves in easy flight from roof to roof. 

 The traveller who is fond of ornithology, may 

 often see this bird on the remains of the Temple 

 of Peace, and occasionally in the Villa Borghese, 

 but much more frequently on the stupendous 

 ruins of the Baths of Caroicalla, where it breeds 

 in holes of the walls ; and always in the Colosseum, 

 where it likewise makes its nest; and in fine, at 

 one time or other of the day, on the tops of most 

 of the churches, monasteries, and convents, within 

 and without the walls of the Eternal City." 



Tlie winter woods have a dreary aspect when 



