Class AVES. 



Subclass AVES CARINAT^. 



Order I. PASSERES. 



Suborder I. OSCINES. 



Section I. OSCINES DENTIROSTRES. 



Family TURDIM. 



Subfamily TURBINE. 



Genus TURDUS. 



Merula apud Brisson, Orn. ii. p. 227 (1760). 



Turdus, Linnseus, Sy.st. Nat. i. p. 291 (1766). 



Alauda apud P. L. S. Midler, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 137 (1766). 



Sylvia apud Savi, Orn. Tosc. i. p. 203 (1827). 



Arceuthornis apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 93 (1829). 



Cichloides apud Kaup, ut supra (1829). 



Cojftsiclius apud Kaup, ut supra (1829). 



Oreocincla apud Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 136. 



Cychloselys apud Bonaparte, Cat. Parzud. p. 5 (1856). 



Planesticus apud Bonaparte, ut supra (1856). 



Iliacus apud Des Murs, Ool. Orn. p. 293 (1860). 



Geocichla apud Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 136. 



The present genus comprises all the true Thrushes, and forms a fairly natural group, though 

 one somewhat hard to define sharply, as it merges very gradually into the Warblers, there beina; 

 scarcely any character by which they can invariably be separated. 



Thrushes are found in all the zoogeographical regions and subregions into which the globe 

 has been divided, with the exception of New Zealand. 



Within the limits of the Western Paleearctic Region thirteen species of this genus are 

 found, of which six are resident and seven are only stragglers from the Eastern Palaearctic Region. 

 Two American species have also been obtained within our limits, viz. Turdus migratorius and 

 Turdus swainsoni ; but I cannot help thinking that the examples of the former which have 

 occurred are birds escaped from confinement, and, after careful consideration, I do not find it 

 advisable to include either species. 



The Thrushes are, as a rule, extremely fine songsters, and are amongst the more highly 



organized of the Passerine birds. They are omnivorous, feeding on fruits, seeds, insects, 



mollusca, &c. They build open cup-shaped nests, neatly and carefully constructed, and usually 



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