248 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



at that date. Again, it must be remembered that this specimen 

 was sold to Mr. Bond, not as a Siberian Thrush, but as a 

 melanistic variety of the Redwing. Under these circumstances 

 we think that the bird has a claim to be admitted into the List 

 of British Birds, as a very rare and occasional visitor. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Siberian Ground-Thrush 

 breeds in the valleys of the Lena and the Yenesei, between 67 

 and 68 N. lat, and also near Yokohama, in Japan. Its winter 

 quarters are in Southern China, Burma, and Tenasserim, and it 

 ranges as far as Sumatra and Java. It also straggles to Europe, 

 for, besides the reputed British occurrence, it has been captured 

 in Germany on more than one occasion, and has been also re- 

 corded from France, Belgium, Italy, and Turkey. 



Habits. Scarcely anything has been recorded of the habits 

 of this species. Mr. Seebohm tells how he met with the bird 

 in Siberia, not far from the village of Koorayika, on the Arctic 

 Circle, but it was so shy and wary that he did not succeed in 

 shooting a specimen till the igth of June. In a dense birch 

 plantation, where the snow had recently melted and had left 

 exposed a dense bed of leaves, the accumulations of some years, 

 he saw a dark bird with a white eyebrow engaged in searching 

 for food amongst the dead leaves. He managed to secure the 

 specimen, which proved to be a Siberian Ground-Thrush, and 

 he also saw others, but could not procure any more examples. 

 The natives told him that it was not uncommon near Tooro- 

 kansk during the breeding season, and was called the " Chbrnoi 

 Drozht? or " Black Thrush." In Japan, Mr. Jouy found it 

 equally shy, frequenting the dense woods on Fuji-yama as high 

 as 5,000 feet. It has a fine song, and is a favourite cage-bird 

 with the Japanese. 



Nest. Not yet described. 



Eggs. A clutch of three eggs are in the Seebohm collection, 

 obtained by the late Harry Fryer in Japan. The ground-colour 

 is bluish-green, and the eggs are spotted all over with reddish- 

 brown, in Blackbird fashion. The underlying spots are slightly 

 lighter brown, but are scarcely distinguishable from the over- 

 lying ones. Axis, 1^05 inch; diam., 0*8. 



