72 

 CHAPTER XIX. 



THE THET7SH. 



THE subject of the present chapter is the Thrush, par 

 excellence, though frequently called the Song Thrush, to 

 distinguish it from its less gifted brethern, the Missel Thrush, 

 Fieldfare, and Eedwing. It was a much less frequent denizen 

 of the old Breton garden where I spent my early days than 

 its relative, whose biography I have sketched in the preceding 

 chapter; than which it is also a smaller bird, measuring but 

 eight inches in length, two and a half of which belong to 

 the tail. The beak of the Thrush is shorter than that of 

 the Blackbird, being but three quarters of an inch long; it 

 is of a dark horn colour, the lower mandible somewhat lighter 

 than the upper, and the inside of both is yellow. The eye 

 is brown, and the legs and feet dingy lead-blue. The plumage 

 on the upper part of the body is olive brown, the throat 

 yellowish white, with a black line on each side; the sides 

 of the neck and breast are reddish white, covered with a 

 number of heart-shaped brown spots, and the white belly is 

 similarly marked, but the spots are lighter in colour than 

 those on the breast. 



The female is generally lighter in colour than the male, 

 and has smaller and rounder spots; but it takes a very ex- 

 perienced eye to detect these differences, especially when the 

 birds are seen apart from each other. 



The young are more speckled, especially on the back, than 

 their parents. 



The nest of the Thrush, Turdus musica in Latin, la Grive 

 in French, and ier Singd/rossel in German, is usually built 

 on the branch of a tree, near water, and not very far from 

 the ground; but it also builds in ivy, and many other situ- 



