Order passeres. 537 



without much risk and labour that their young brood can be 

 got at ; and even when the robber arrives at the place, a sure 

 danger awaits him of having his eyes plucked out by these 

 birds, which are not less courageous than distrustful, and will 

 defend their young with desperate obstinacy. 



The eggs are four of five in number of a greenish blue. 



The young rock-thrushes may be brought up with the same 

 sort of paste used for the nightingale; but they must be taken 

 in the nest, " for," says Montbeillard, " when they have the 

 use of their wings, they will not give in to snares of any kind." 

 He adds, that even if they should be so taken, they will not 

 survive their liberty. M. Vieillot, however, saw one taken on 

 its passage in the neighbourhood of Paris, which swallowed 

 with great avidity all the food presented to it, especially meat, 

 and even took it out of the hand. After three or four days of 

 captivity, it was already as familiar as if it had been always 

 brought up in a cage. 



This bird has a very quick motion of the tail, moving it up 

 and down, five or six times successively, especially when it 

 changes place. 



The rock-thrushes are found on the Oural Mountains, on 

 the Alps, in the Tyrol, Bugey, Switzerland, Austria, Prussia, 

 and Carniola ; but, being migratoi-y birds, they only appear in 

 these places in May, and quit them in September : then extend 

 themselves in Spain, Italy, and the islands of the Archipelago. 



The rose-coloured Blackbird pleases the eye by the beauty 

 and brilliancy of its plumage, but it also possesses other qualities 

 far more valuable. It is a great destroyer of grasshoppers, 

 locusts, &c. of which it devours an incredible number every 

 day in the various parts of the East. It was regarded by the 

 ancients, who called it Seleucida, as a favour of the Gods, 

 when these scourges, more destructive to the pi'oductions of the 

 earth than hail and tempest, devastated the country. Even at 

 present, the Arabs, the Indians, and the inhabitants of Aleppo 

 arc accustomed by superstitious practices to invoke this bird. 



