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NOTES ON THE ROCK THRUSH IN CAPTIVITY.


(Monticola saxatilis).


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


In the spring of 1891, in the month of May, I reared up

from the nest a brood of Rock Thrushes, one of which I still

have in perfect condition and health : a male bird, hatched in

Northern Italy amongst the rocks where the mountains rise up

from one of the greater lakes towards the Swiss frontier. Mr.

Seebohm has described the haunts of the Rock Thrush as

embracing some of the wildest of scenes. “ Its summer home

is amongst the rocky gorges of the mountains, in and amongst

the old ruins, ravines, and rough broken ground strewed with

rock fragments, with here and there a few stunted trees or

bushes. . . . His winter home in Africa is in the neighbour¬


hood of the Arab burial places, on the borders of the arid desert,

the vast and trackless Sahara, the gorges, embankments, rocky

bluffs and ravines, and the oases of the desert.”


In June of 1897, I visited a haunt of these beautiful birds

in France amongst the glorious hills of Auvergne, a spot where,

just above the carriage road, a scattered mass of boulders had

been thrown as it were by a giant hand on to the grassy slope ;

and there, besides some wheatears and pipits of sorts, was quite

a small colony of Rock Thrushes. I counted four or five males in

full plumage, in addition to females and fully fledged young ones.

The males were running after each other over the rocks, puffing

out their feathers and singing every time they settled afresh, their

rufous-coloured tails in constant vibration after the manner of

Redstarts.


With regard to rearing these birds from the nest, I have

personally not found any difficulty. Cleanliness is most

important. I kept the young ones, which, when first taken,

were just beginning to have a good growth of feathers, in a

covered basket on fresh hay, taking care to shake the droppings

away so that there should be no accumulation near the birds.

The hay was either freshly shaken out each morning, or else

entirely renewed. When doing so, I simply placed the young

Thrushes on a piece of flannel, and by handling them gently

day by day, and talking to them, accustomed them to my touch,

so that, to this day, the bird I have will fly on to my hand when

loose in a room, and will there sing. I fed them upon a mixture

of insectivorous food with some fresh and finely-chopped raw



