180 
9. 
RTHIOPIAN 
THR. 
DESCRIPTION. 
VE i) CA SkL Ete 
« picking the infects, which dropping from the bufhes upon the 
«© animals, and biting deep into their fkins, ftick very faft to them, 
“ and occafion them great pain;” that it is a fhy bird, and makes 
the neft in the fides of rivers and brooks, and digs holes in the banks : 
they are obferved alfo to feed on ripe grapes, and flying in great 
‘flocks, not unfrequently do much damage to the vineyards ; however, 
by fuch kind of food the flefh is rendered very delicate: thefe birds 
do not always make the neft in banks, but fometimes in old ruined : 
buildings, or holes of decayed trees, at others rob the fwallows of 
their neft; the eges. are five or fix in number, ereenifh {potted with 
brown. 
This we are inclined to believe is the Locuft-eating Thrufh men- 
tioned by Mr. Barrow *, as the chief if not the only food, appears to 
be Larve of the migratory Locujts, following the troops of thefe 
wherever they are. He obferves that the bird is gregarious, making 
the neft in vaft numbers together, not greatly different from the So- 
siable Grofbeak, appearing as one large neft, big enough for a Vultures 
which circumftance he obferved at Seuwberg, on a clump of low 
bufhes: on examination, the neft was found to confift of a number of 
cells, each of which was a feparate neft, with a tube that led: into it 
through the fide ; and of fuch cells, each clump contained from fix to 
twenty, and one roof of interwoven twigs covered the whole, like 
that made by a Magpie: moft of them had young birds, generally 
five. The eggs are of a blueifh white, with fmall faint reddifh 
fpecks, 
Turdus ethiopicus, fzd. Orz. i. p. 357. 110. 
Le Boubou, Levaill. Oxf. ii. p. 73. pl. 68. f. 1. 2. 
Ethiopian Thruth, Gen. Syz. ili, p. 78. 103. 
‘HE female is a trifle lefs than the male: the parts which are 
black in the laft are in the former brownifh, and the under parts 
almoit intirely fulvous, except the throat, which is rufous white, and 
* Travels into South Africa, p. 256. 
the 
