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spots, whilst some have the throat more or less varied owing to the feathers having pale rufous edges ; 

 and in some these markings are distributed over the entire throat or the whole breast-patch, and they 

 are in some more and in others less apparent. Some have the rust-yellow feathers edged with white, 

 which gives a scaly appearance to the breast; and in some these margins nearly hide the rust-red 

 ground-colour. In some individuals the rusty red ground-colour of the breast-patch is paler than in 

 others, and the superciliary stripe varies likewise : some have the breast-patch clear chocolate-colour ; 

 and others, again, have brown clouded spots on a paler or darker ground, these spots being more or less 

 confluent, and darkening the ground-colour more or less. Some males have the anterior part of the 

 body more or less as in the female — that is, marked with dark colour on various shades of white : these 

 arc probably young males." 

 Amongst all the various forms the most interesting perhaps is a male with the anterior portion of the body 

 as in Tardus fuscatus (T. dubius). It has a light-yellowish throat, a broad bow-shaped band on the 

 breast ; but the entire mantle, flanks, and tail are coloured as usual. The females also differ somewhat, 

 these differences consisting of more or less markings, and in the ground-colour and the coloration of the 

 spots; but these varieties cannot be grouped as in the males. In the fresh-moulted autumn plumage 

 the mantle has a more or less vivid tinge of olivaceous ; and the younger birds are more olivaceous than 

 the older ones, this coloration being strongest in the birds of the year in their second plumage: these 

 birds have the fore part of the neck and breast closely marked with blackish olivaceous spots, the flanks 

 being similarly marked with paler spots. 



\ young bird in its first plumage, shot on the Chamardaban Mountains on the 15th July 1870, resembles a 

 young Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris), but has the tail rusty yellow, except the two central rectrices, which 

 are entirely olive-brown, and in the others the tip of the outer web and the tip of the feather are brown ; 

 the ground-colour of the back is olive-grey without any rusty tinge, and, as in the young of Turdus 

 pilaris, striated with whitish; but the stripes are shorter, broader, and more pencilled, and there are 

 similar markings oil the wing-coverts ; the underparts of the body are as in the young Fieldfare. 



Dr. Dybowski considers the variety with the dark clouded breast-patch to be a distinct form or species, and 

 calls it Turdus hyemalis. lie says: — "It arrives here in the winter, and remains at that season near 

 the brooks which have not frozen, or near the springs, where it finds an abundance of the larvae of 

 Diptera and Neuroptera. A few flocks frequent the treeless slopes on the south side of the mountains 

 (there called ' solnopicki'), and feed on grass-seeds, berries (of the hawthorn), and grubs. They leave us 

 about the middle of April.'" On the other hand, the varieties which differ more from the typical form, 

 having the upper parts dark brown, the tail almost blackish, the lower throat, fore part of the neck, and 

 superciliary stripe dark, and also the above-referrcd-to variety having a band as in Turdus dubius, are 

 considered both by Dr. Dybowski and Dr. Cabanis to be hybrids. 



This, one of the rarest of the Asiatic Thrushes, has been met with in Europe only as a very rare 

 straggler. Mr. Gatke obtained, an immature bird in Heligoland late iu November 1843 ; and 

 this specimen is still in his collection. Naumann records (Naturg. Vog. Deutschl. xiii. p. 325) 

 a single instance of its occurrence in Germany, viz. of a young bird of the year which was 

 obtained about the middle of October 1836, near Eadeberg, not far from Dresden, and which 

 is, he says, in the collection of Lieut.-Colonel Raabe. According to Dr. Altum (J. f. O. 18G7, 

 p. 109) one was purchased by him in the flesh at the Minister market on the 10th November 

 L866, since when I find no record of its occurrence in Europe. In Asia the present species is 

 tolerably widely distributed, occurring in various parts of Siberia, and as far south as India. 

 Dr. Finsch shot a specimen on the Ob river, near Berezoff; and it has been observed in various 

 parts of Siberia by different explorers. Dr. Severtzoff says that he found it rare on passage and 



