20 



the back, the outermost very perceptibly washed with golden brown, and both median and greater 

 coverts distinctly tipped with bright buff; tail olive-brown, rather warmer in tint, paler underneath, 

 the shafts of the feathers dark brown above, whitish below ; lores buff, and an indistinct eyebrow tinged 

 and spotted with the same colour; ring of feathers round the eye buffy white; cheeks brownish, 

 inclining to black on the hinder part of the ear-coverts, and plainly streaked with buff; a malar stripe 

 buffy white, spotted with blackish, below which a distinct moustache of black ; under surface of the 

 body white, the throat and fore part of the breast clear buff, the former unspotted, but the latter 

 covered with triangular spots of brown, which become smaller on the lower part of the body, till on the 

 abdomen only a few narrow lines of black appear, the flanks being more broadly and obscurely mottled 

 and striped ; under tail-coverts whitish, slightly washed with brownish ; under wing-coverts rich golden ; 

 bill blackish brown, yellowish at the base of the under mandible ; legs pale flesh-colour ; iris brown. 

 Total length 8'8 inches, culinen 0'8, wing 4'8, tail 3 - 4, tarsus 1*3. 



Female. Similar to the male, but a little smaller, and occasionally duller in plumage. 



Young. Paler than the adults, and more fluffy on the head and rump, feathers of the head and back marked 

 with whitish bands and streaks down the centre of the feather; wing-coverts very conspicuously tipped 

 with fulvous, which also extends a little way up the shaft of the feather ; quills and tail as in the adult, 

 except that the former are more washed with golden buff on the outer web ; sides of the face and under 

 surface of the body whitish, with a tinge of buff on the ear-coverts and fore part of the breast, all the 

 under surface covered with blackish spots ; under wing-coverts rich golden ; bill and feet paler than 

 in the adult. 



Nestling. Above golden brown, with longitudinal shaft-markings of bright buff; these markings caused by 

 a line of buff down the shaft of the feather, which broadens out towards the apex of the plume, being 

 margined with black at the extreme tip ; wing-coverts marked like the back, the greater coverts tipped 

 with buff, without the indication of the shaft ; sides of the face bright golden buff, the eyebrow being 

 very distinctly delineated ; hinder part of the ear-coverts blackish, the cheeks obscurely specked with 

 black; throat and fore part of the body rich golden buff, the throat unspotted but marked down each 

 side with a narrow line of black, the breast covered with small spots of black, less thickly distributed 

 on the abdomen, which is white ; uuder wing-coverts bright golden-buff. 



Obs. As the bird progresses towards maturity the markings on the back-feathers become bleached and 

 more obsolete, turning to white ; and the breast becomes white, the yellow tiuge disappearing. 



Winter plumage. As far as we can see, the winter dress of the present bird differs little from its summer dress, 

 at least in English examples. One specimen in Canon Tristram's collection from Palestine seems to be 

 rather pale in colour, and to be a little more thickly spotted on the breast. English birds are always 

 much darker in coloration and have the fore part of the chest of a deeper buff than any examples we 

 have yet seen from the Continent. 



Tins well-known species is distributed over the entire Paltearctic Region, although of very rare 

 occurrence in the extreme eastern portion. In Western Europe it is migratory to a very great 

 extent, although in some countries a resident species. 



Mr. A. G. More gives it as " breeding everywhere throughout England, except Shetland, 

 where the nest has not yet been taken." In the ' Birds of Ayrshire and Wigtownshire,' Messrs. 

 Gray and Anderson state that the Thrush is "generally distributed. Near Girvan it resorts, 



