Thrush. INSESSORES. MERULA. 157 



elongated, slightly arched and emarginated, rendering it ef- 

 ficient for the capture and secure detention of their different 

 kinds of food. Their legs are muscular, and their feet, par- 

 ticularly those of genus Merula, adapted both for moving on 

 the ground and perching. The greater part of the species 

 are remarkable for the sweetness and versatility of their vo- 

 cal powers, well exemplified in our indigenous bird the 

 Throstle or Mavis, and in the far-famed Mocking-Bird of 

 America (the type of the genus Orpheus). The whole of 

 the British members of this group belong to tlie true 

 Thrushes (genus Merula of Ray). 



Genus MERULA, Bay. THRUSH. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill nearly as long as the head ; strait at the base ; slight- 

 ly bending towards the point, which is rather compressed ; 

 the upper mandible emarginated. Gape furnished with a 

 few bristles. Nostrils basal, lateral and oval, partly covered 

 by a naked membrane. Legs of mean length, muscular. 

 Toes, three before and one behind ; the outer toe joined at 

 its base to the middle one, which is shorter than the tarsus. 

 Claws slightly arcuate ; that of the hind toe the largest. Of 

 the wings, the first quill is short, and the third and fourth 

 are the longest. 



This genus being now very properly restricted to the true 

 Thrushes (of which the Blackbird may be considered the 

 type), I make no apology for adopting the generic appella- 

 tion bestowed on that bird and its congeners by our illus- 

 trious countryman Ray, in preference to that of Turdus, 

 afterwards given by Linnaeus ; and under which designation 

 a vast number of forms, belonging to other genera, and even 

 families, have since been added by succeeding writers, thus 

 rendering it a confused assemblage, only calculated to mis- 



