132 



4 



species breeds in a spotted dress is quite certain ; for Mr. Howard Saunders tells us that on one occasion 

 when examining a nest of this species in Spain, the old mother was exhibiting signs of great distress 

 within a few feet of him ; and he is thus enabled to declare that the female in this instance was in the 

 spotted plumage usually assigned to that sex. 



Explanation of the Plates. Our first Plate represents the adult male and female ; while on the second Plate 

 are shown the two young birds referred to in the above descriptions. It will be seen that the young 

 male is much darker on the wing-coverts than the female, and that he likewise has the white dorsal 

 patch more fully developed. 



The Rock-Thrush is known in Europe as an inhabitant of the more southern parts, seldom 

 penetrating beyond certain favoured localities in Germany, and never extending into the extreme 

 northern portions : it has twice occurred in England, and once in Heligoland ; but in both these 

 places its appearance must be considered as purely accidental. Its winter home seems to be in 

 North-eastern Africa, whence it ranges into Senegambia, on the West Coast. During the 

 summer it occurs throughout Siberia, but does not visit the high north. A few instances are 

 given below which illustrate its southern range in Asia ; but it appears seldom to occur within 

 the limits of the Indian region. 



The only instances of its capture in England are those recorded by Yarrell in his 

 ' Supplement.' " One," he says, " was obtained, on the 19th of May 1843, by Mr. Joseph Trigg, 

 who shot it at Thcrfield, near Royston, in Hertfordshire, while it was sitting on an ash tree, in 

 the evening of the day mentioned. I saw the specimen before it was skinned for preservation by 

 Mr. John Norman, of Royston, and received the first notice of the occurrence from my friend 

 Thomas Wortham, Esq., whose influence with Mr. Trigg obtained for me the loan of the bird 

 for my use in this work. 1 have now very recently heard of another specimen shot by a game- 

 keeper, who, not aware of the interest attached to such a bird, saved only the head and neck ; 

 but this portion having been shown to a gentleman conversant with ornithology, the species was 

 identified without difficulty from its peculiar colouring." 



Gatke has recorded its occurrence in Heligoland, and in Germany ; according to Borg- 

 greve it is a regular summer visitor on some parts of the valleys of the Rhine and Mosel, a few 

 breeding on the Hartz Mountains and Thuringia. Naumann states that it occurs, but not 

 plentifully, in Hungary and Dalmatia, and in central Switzerland. In other parts of Germany 

 it is only found singly, as in the Tyrol, Austria, Salzburg, in the Rhine Mountains. Occasion- 

 ally, but rarely, it visits the mountains of Silesia, Bohemia, and Thuringia. Our friend M. Carl 

 Sachse writes to us as follows : — " It is common on the central Rhine and in the side valleys from 

 Bingen to Bonn." 



Baron de Selys-Longchamps records one instance of its occurrence near Tournay in the 

 summer of 1841 ; and Mr. Ilolandre notices another at Metz. In Luxembourg, according to 

 De la Fontaine, " it breeds regularly in the ruins of the Chateau de la Roche, Mindenlerlay, 

 Osweilerlach, and Ernzerberg near Echternach, in the rocks of Maersdorf, and probably also in 

 those of La Haute Sure." Godron records it as a " very rare bird of passage, occurring at long 

 intervals in Lorraine, where it has been killed at Nancy and at Metz." Kramer says that in 

 Alsace it " is sedentary in the mountains from April to September, nesting in clefts of rocks 



