THE



Bvucultural fllba$a3tne t


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. III. — NO. 30. All rights reserved.



APRIL, 1897.



THE BLUE ROCK THRUSH.


By the Rev. Hubert D. Astley, M.A., F.Z.S.


Illustrated by the Author.


“ The Sparrow that sitteth alone on the housetop ”—as the

Psalmist writes. Passer is the Eatin for a Sparrow, and Passera

solitaria is the Italian name for the Blue Thrush. The Solitary

Sparrow. What happy sunshiny days the bird reminds me of !

I am surely back in Italy once more! beautiful, warm, fruitful

Italy ! Does the Passera solitaria feel the same delight, I wonder,

as he wings his way from his winter sojourn in Africa to the

mountains of Savoy? Could any life be more entirely enviable,

that spring and summer passed amongst the freshness of the

mountain air above the level of the chestnut groves and the

acacia trees, flitting from boulder to boulder, from ravine to

ravine, splashing in some clear pool of a mountain rivulet,

preening his feathers in the light of the morning sun, perched

upon some stone near which blossoms the edelweiss, and below

which stretch the roseate hues of bright masses of the Alpine

rhododendron filling the air with aromatic scent ? Such is the

life and environment of the Blue Thrush in his wild state.


When the Nightingales and the great host of migratory

birds are on their way to England, he too is leaving his winter

quarters in Africa for Southern Europe and parts of Asia. In

Palestine he may be found seated on a ruined temple, fluting

with his soft and melodious voice under the blue vault of heaven.

Passera that sitteth alone on the house-tops ! Solitaria !


But it is in Italy that I have made his acquaintance under

all sorts and conditions. It is in Italy that I have heard his

voice ringing in the still air as one wound one’s way up some

mountain path and paused to recover one’s breath. It is in Italy

that I have found his brood of young ones hidden in the cleft of

the rock, it is there that I have seen him caged, oh so miserably



