VOL. LXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 339 



liberty they sing very prettily, but confined in a cage, they lose their melody. 

 There is no material distinction between the male and female. Their weight is 

 24- ounces, the length 9 inches, and the breadth 1 foot; they are called red birds 

 at Hudson's Bay; their Indian name is pee-pee-chue. 



Turdus, 22. Severn river, N" 34 and 55, male and female. 



From the striking similarity with our blackbird, the English at Hudson's Bay 

 have given this bird the same name. However, on a close examination, the 

 difference is very great between our European blackbird, and the Hudson's Bay 

 or American one. The plumage of the male, instead of being deep black with- 

 out any gloss, as in ours, has a shining purple cast, not unlike the plumage of 

 the gracula quiscula, Linn, or shining gracule, Faun. Am. Sept.: or the maize 

 thief, of Kalm. The female indeed ie very like our female blackbird, being of 

 a dusky colour on the back, and a dark grey on the breast. The feet and bill 

 are quite black in both sexes; the former has the back claw almost as long again 

 as any of the other claws. There are no vestiges of yellow palpebrae in either 

 the male or the female; the bill in both is strong, smooth, and subulated; the 

 upper mandible being carinated, but very little arched, and without any tooth or 

 indenture whatever, on the lower side. The nostrils are as in other thrushes. 

 This bird has no bristles at the base of its bill, its feet have such segments as 

 Scopoli in the Annus I Historico-Naturalis attributes to the stares. Instead of 

 being solitary and living retired like the European blackbirds, these American 

 ones come in flocks to Severn river in June, live among the willows, build in all 

 kinds of trees, and return to the southward in autumn. They feed on worms 

 and maggots ; their weight is 24^ ounces, and they are 9 inches long, and 1 foot 

 broad. One that was kept 12 months in a cage pined away, and died. Not- 

 withstanding these circumstances, Mr. F. cannot help remaining undetermined 

 with regard to this bird, which at first sight is like the blackbird, has the bill of 

 a thrush, and the feet and gregarious nature of a stare. It is to be hoped that 

 future accounts from Hudson's Bay may inform us further of the nature of this 

 bird, its time of incubation, the number of eggs it lays, and the colour of those 

 eggs, together with the note of the bird, the difierence and characteristic marks 

 of both the male and female, and other circumstances, which may serve to de- 

 termine to what genus and species we are to refer this bird. 



10. Loxia, grosbeak. 23. Curvirostra, 299, 1. Crossbill. Br. Zool. Faun. 

 Am. Sept. 1 1. The small variety. Severn river, N" 27 and 28. 



This bird comes to Severn river the latter end of May, breeds more to the 

 northward, and returns in autumn, in its way to the south, departing at the 

 setting in of the frost. The irides in the male are of a beautiful red, in the 

 female yellow: the weight is said to be 10 ounces, probably by mistake for 1 



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