206 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Genus TURDUS. 



The genus Turdus was established by Linnseus in 1766^ in his ' Systema 

 Naturse/ i. p. 291^ and T. viscivorus has by common consent been accepted 

 as the type. It contains the true Thrushes^ which may be distinguished from 

 the Ground-Thrushes by not having the peculiar Geocichline pattern on the 

 wing, and from the Ouzels by having the throat streaked and the sexes 

 alike. 



The true Thrushes are most abundant in the Neotropical Region, whence 

 about five and twenty species have been described, and in the iEthiopian 

 Region, where about a dozen species are resident. Half a dozen species or 

 more are peculiar to the Nearctic Region, whilst in the Palsearctic Region 

 only five species occur, of which two are residents in our islands and two 

 winter visitors. 



The Thrushes are closely connected with the Ouzels. The haunts they 

 affect are almost entirely arboreal ; and in their habits they do not differ 

 from the Ouzels. They are even more sociable than the preceding group 

 of birds. Like them they possess great powers of song, being probably 

 amongst the finest songsters in the world. They all build open nests, well 

 made and compact, of dry grass, sticks, moss, and mud, and place them 

 usually in bushes, sometimes high up in the branches of trees, and more 

 rarely on the ground. Their eggs are from four to six in number, varying 

 from clear bluish green to green in ground-colour, spotted and mottled 

 with various shades of brown. Their food also does not differ from that of 

 the Ouzels. 



