518 



Occurrence of White's Thrush (Turdus varius, Pallas — T. 

 Whitei, Eyton), in Berwickshire. By Andrew Brother- 

 ston. 



During the last week of December, 1878, a specimen of this 

 very rare and beautiful Thrush, was shot by Mr Forbes Burn, at 

 Hardacres, Berwickshire. Not being aware of its rarity, unfor- 

 tunately only a portion of the bird was saved —the head and 

 wings, unskinned, with part of the skin of the breast and back 

 — and forwarded to me on the 22nd of January following, to 

 preserve as an ornament for a lady's hat. I immediately took 

 the necessary steps to try and secure what was left of it for the 

 ornithological collection of the Tweedside Physical and Anti- 

 quarian Society, which were successful, the owner very promptly 

 and kindly presenting it to that Society. The relative lengths 

 of the primaries may be interesting, as they differ from Yarrell's 

 measurements of the original British specimen, which was shot 

 by Lord Malmesbury in Hampshire, January 24th, 1828, and 

 named after White of Selborne by Mr Eyton, who was not aware 

 that it had been previously named T. varius, and described by 

 Pallas as an inhabitant of Siberia. Length of wing from carpal 

 joint, 6fin ; first feather very short, l£in. ; the second feather 

 in the right wing is £in. (probably not being full grown) ; and 

 in the left about £in. shorter than the fourth. (The second and 

 fourth in Lord Malmesbury's specimen were equal.) The third 

 is the longest in the wing, being about ^-in. longer than the 

 fourth. Length of bill from gape, one inch four lines. The 

 marking on the head is also different. Yarrell says, ' ' The 

 feathers on the upper part of the head and neck, yellow-brown, 

 tipped with black." In this specimen these feathers are black 

 (becoming lighter on the basal half as chey go backwards), with 

 a yellow-brown spot about one-sixteenth of an inch from the tip. 

 In other respects, so far as can be seen, it agrees with his 

 description. 



I believe another bird of the same kind was seen on January 

 19th, by Mr A. Steel. It was feeding on a bare sandy spot, 

 under some large willow trees at the south end of Kelso Bridge. 

 He had an excellent view of it before it took flight ; and after 

 seeing the remains of the Hardacres specimen, he is convinced 

 that it belongs to the same species. Both birds were solitary. 



