256 Mower-Gardens and Song Birds. 



sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto." "I have watched, and 

 am become as a sparrow all alone upon the house-top." I have 

 often wondered what bird this could be ; knowing, by daily 

 experience, that it could not actually be the house-sparrow ; 

 for the house-sparrow is not solitary in its habits. I despaired 

 of being able to trace its character satisfactorily, and I should 

 probably have long remained in ignorance of it, had I not 

 visited the southern parts of Europe. 



My arrival in Rome let me at once into the secret. The 

 bird to which the repentant king of Israel compared himself in 

 the seven penitential psalms is a real thrush in size, in shape, in 

 habits, and in song; with this difference from the rest of the 

 tribe, that it is remarkable throughout all the East for sitting 

 solitary on the habitations of man. 



The first time I ever saw this lonely plaintive songster was 

 in ffoino- to hear mass in the magnificent church of the Jesuits 

 at Rome. The dawn was just appearing, and the bird passed 

 over my head, in its transit from the roof of the Palace 

 Odescalchi to the belfry of the Church of the Twelve Apostles, 

 singing as it flew. I thought it had been the Italian blackbird, 

 with notes somewhat different from those of our own ; for its 

 song was partly that of the blackbird, and partly that of the 

 stormcock, 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 thrush, I paid particular attention 

 to its habits. 



It is indeed a solitary bird, for it never associates with any 

 other, and only with its own mate in breeding time ; and even 

 then it is often seen quite 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 Caracalla, where it breeds in holes of the walls, and always 

 on 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. 



It lays five eggs of a very pale blue. They much resemble 

 those of our starling. The bird itself is blue, with black wings 

 and tail; the blue of the body becoming lighter when placed in 

 different attitudes. 



Whilst I lodged in the Palazzo di Gregorio, this solitary 

 songster had its nest in the roof of the celebrated Propaganda, 

 across the street " dei due Macelli," and only a few yards from 

 my window. I longed to get at it ; but knowing that the Romans 



