36 NATURAL HISTORY. 



a great deal of study to them, believes that two great families ought to be recognised, the Thrushes 

 and the Warblers. 



THE FIRST SUB-FAMILY OF THE TURDID^E. THE THRUSHES PROPER (Turdina). 



The young in. the first plumage are spotted on the upper parts as well as on the under parts. 

 This plumage is completely moulted in the first autumn before migration ; so that young in first winter 

 plumage differ very slightly from adults. Adult birds have only one complete moult in the year, in 

 autumn, before migration. The spring plumage is obtained by casting the ends of the feathers. There 

 is no complete moult in the spring, only such feathers being renewed as have been accidentally injured. 

 So far as we have been able to ascertain, these peculiarities are always in this group correlated with a 

 plain tarsus.* 



THE THRUSHES (Turdtts). 



Under the genus Turdus are comprised not only the Thrushes but the Blackbirds, as no 

 difference can be discovered by which the latter can be separated under the genus Merula, though this 

 has been done by many writers. As a rule Thrushes are spotted, and Blackbirds are uniform in 

 coloration, but structurally they exhibit precisely the same form. In Europe, without counting a few 

 Asiatic species which straggle within its eastern confines, we find the same species that are found in 

 England distributed over the greater part of the continent, such as the Song Thrush, the Missel Thrush, 

 the Fieldfare, the Redwing, the Blackbird, and the Ring Ouzel. 



THE SONG THRUSH (Turdus music us}. 



This familiar bird is found in England all the year round, but it is very doubtful if the individuals 

 which inhabit England in the summer remain there during the winter months. It is now some 

 years ago since Professor Newton, drew attention to the fact that a migration of the Song Thrushes 

 is a common occurrence during the latter season of the year, and subsequent observations have 

 only tended to confirm the truth of the statement. During the author's stay in Heligoland in 

 the autumn, numbers of Thrushes passed over the island, and were caught in large numbers in the 

 bushes which are erected by the inhabitants for this purpose in their gai'dens. A large row of sticks 

 and bush is placed by them generally at the end of the little plots of ground, which are either rented 

 from the Crown, or are the property of the Heligolanders themselves. Most of the ground is taken up 

 by potato patches, that vegetable forming the staple food of the islanders during the winter ; but a piece 

 of grass is left for the support of the family sheep, whose milk is consumed in the place of cows' 

 milk, there being no cows upon the island. The larger number of the Thrush bushes are found 

 at the eastern end of the rock, close to the town and in the vicinity of the lighthouse, and are 

 generally placed from east to west, as it is in this direction that most of the migrants arrive on 

 the island. A large net is drawn along the back of the bushes, and in the early morning, before 

 it is quite light, the owner visits his bush, and by suddenly clapping his hands startles the tired 

 and sleeping birds, who fly to the opposite side of the bushes and are immediately entangled in 

 the net. Owing to the scarcity of meat, which arrives in Heligoland from Hamburg only, and 

 the supply of which is less certain during winter, the catching of Thrushes is a serious matter 

 for the supply of the islanders' table. In Belgium and other parts of Europe where a lai-ge migration 

 of Thrushes takes place, vast quantities are caught during this period. In Italy, according to Count 

 Salvador!, they are much esteemed for the table, and there are many modes of capturing them. In some 

 places there are tracts of wooded ground which every year are arranged with birdlime and nets j 

 and during the season on some mornings hundreds are caught. In the Maremma Toscana, men 

 gain their livelihood by catching Thrushes and Blackbirds in snares, and each man looks after 

 about three thousand snares. In Sardinia also large numbers are caught, boiled, and put into sacks 

 with myrtle leaves, and are sold at high prices in the markets. " The Song Thrush," writes Mac- 

 gillivray, " is associated in my memory with the Hebrides, where it is perhaps moi-e abundant than in 

 most parts of Britain. There in the calm summer evening, such as for placid beauty far exceeds any 

 that I have elsewhere seen, when the glorious sun is drawing towards the horizon, and shedding a 

 broad glare of ruddy light over the smooth surface of the ocean ; when the scattered sheep, accom 



* Seebohm, " Ibis.," 1879, p. 309. 



