8 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



The Missel Thrush (Twdus triscivorus). 



Apart from t lit- differences given above, I know of no constant 

 characters by which males can be distinguished from females. It is 

 possible that in this and the other Throstles it may be practicable to 

 find some slight colour differences in birds from the same nest. 1 

 believe I noted such indications in a pair which I hand-reared in 

 1886, though (after so long a lapse of time) I cannot pretend to 

 speak with certainty ; but one thing I did observe, which would 

 upset all attempts to base a sexual distinction upon colouring, that 

 age gradually modified deep buff on the breast to huffish-white, so 

 that if we were to rely upon depth of colour we might easily associate 

 as sexes two cocks of different ages. 



The Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). 



Beyond the difference in form, with length and slenderness of 

 bill, 1 know of no character by which the sexes of this bird can be 

 recognised ; but I have not had the chance of examining many living 

 examples, and have personally only kept one cock-bird as a pet. 



The Song-Thrush (Turdu* musicus). 



Some bird-owners have stated that it is possible to tell the s< 

 of this species by the number and size of the spots on the breast, as 

 well as by the tint. I have at various times caught and kept a 

 good many examples of this Throstle, but I never could convince 

 myself that these differences had anything to do with sex ; they 

 appeared to me to be either individual or due To age. If you catch 

 your own birds, you will generally find that a cock, when first 

 handled, utters a sort of trill or rattling whistle, whereas a hen is 

 frequently mute; but there may be exceptions to this rule. For 

 certainty there can be nothing better than such fixed characters 

 the more slender outline of the male bird, with the narrower crown 

 and bill. 



The Redwing (Turdus iliaci 



There is little, if any, colour difference in the sexes of the Redwing. 

 In the pair which I kept for two or three years in one of my aviaries, 

 I tried to persuade myself that the hen was not quite so brilliantly 

 coloured as her mate, but I believe it was more fancy than fact. 

 Apart from his rather more elegant form, I knew the cock by his 

 (•banning song. 



The Blackbird (Manila merula): 



in the Blackbird, apart from its well-defined structural different 

 the ben is easily recognisable by her brown colouring, with more 

 rufous throat and breast streakily spotted with blackish. With 

 advanced age the throat gradually becomes whitish, sometimes quite 

 white on the chin, and the black streaking more and more defined ; 

 the outline of the gape als.. becomes more or less, bordered with 



