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October,' and further gives (Zool. p. 1133) ' March 24' as the date of this bird's arrival at Laeken 

 in the spring of 1845. The latter, in his 'List of the Migratory Birds of Provence,' not only 

 includes it among the 'Regular Birds of Passage,' but says (Zool. p. 1118) 'This is the bird 

 of passage par excellence, of our country,' and asserts that in its migration it crosses the 

 Mediterranean. 



" I may add that my own experience tends to show that all these authors are right in their 

 statements. Since the autumn of 1849, my brother Edward and myself have paid much attention 

 to the presence or absence of the so-called 'resident' species of Turdus. The result of our 

 observations is such as to leave on our minds not the slightest doubt of the regular migration of 

 the Song-Thrush, as far as concerns the particular locality whence I write. Year after year we 

 have noticed that, as summer draws to a close, the birds of this species (at that season very 

 abundant) associate more or less in small companies. As autumn advances, their numbers often 

 undergo a very visible increase, until about the middle of October, when a decided diminution 

 begins to take place. Sometimes large, but more generally small flocks are seen passing at a 

 considerable height overhead, and the frequenters of the brakes and turnip-fields grow scarcer. 

 By the end of November, hardly an example ordinarily appears. It is true that sometimes, even 

 in severe weather, an individual or so may be found here and there, leading a solitary life in 

 some sheltered hedge-bottom, or thick plantation which may afford conditions of existence more 

 favourable than elsewhere are to be met with ; but this is quite an exceptional occurrence. 

 Towards the end of January or beginning of February, their return commences. They reappear 

 at first slowly and singly ; but as spring advances, in considerable abundance, and without inter- 

 ruption, until, in the height of the breeding-season, they by far outnumber their more stay-at- 

 home cousins the Blackbirds. 



"I do not suppose for a moment that these facts are similar all over England ; indeed the 

 testimony of many of my friends assures me to the contrary. Still I am induced to think that by 

 constant and accurate observers some migratory tendency is to be detected in other districts ; and 

 as we are often told that the subject of British ornithology is exhausted (an assertion I much 

 doubt), I venture to call the attention of naturalists to this point as one on which it certainly 

 cannot be said at present that we have ' too much light.' " 



In countries where the Thrushes migrate in great quantities, vast numbers are caught ; and 

 a most interesting account of the Tenderie or " 6rrw-catching" in Belgium, will be found in 

 Mr. Gould's magnificent work, the ' Birds of Great Britain.' From Italy, Count Salvadori has 

 addressed to us the following note on this subject: — "Thrushes are much esteemed for the table; 

 and there are many modes of capturing them. In some places there are tracts of wooded 

 ground which every year are arranged with birdlime and nets ; and during the season on some 

 mornings several hundreds are caught. In the Maremma Toscana men gain their livelihood by 

 catching Thrushes and Blackbirds in snares, and each man looks after about three thousand 

 snares. In Sardinia also large numbers are caught, boiled, and put into sacks with myrtle-leaves, 

 and are sold at high prices in the markets." 



The nesting is thus described by Hewitson : — 



" The nest of the Thrush is composed of moss and dry grass, with the addition of a few 

 sticks, straw, and roots, cemented together in the inside by a composition of clay and rotten wood. 



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