Birds. 1967 



works on the birds of the northern hemisphere which I could consult, and have come 

 to the conclusion that it is no other than Turdus minor of Latham. This bird has 

 been a great puzzle to ornithologists in general, and that for two principal reasons ; 

 firstly, because Latham's description is not quite characteristic ; and secondly, because 

 the species is so] rare, that Brehm is the only author who mentions it as a European 

 bird.* This bird differs at first sight from Turdus viscivorus, Linn., by its three outer 

 tail quills which are not tipped with white ; from Turdus pilaris, Linn, and Turdus 

 migratorius, Liun. by its head, which is neither ash-colored nor gray ; from Turdus 

 musicus, Linn, by its wing-coverts, which are not terminated by a whitish band, and 

 by its breast, which is not brightly tinted with yellow ; from Turdus iliacus, 

 Linn, by the absence of the rufous stain on the flanks, and by the triangular 

 shape of the dusky spots on the breast ; from Turdus torquatus, Linn., T. raemla, 

 Linn., T. atrogularis, Temm., T. Naumannii, Temm., T. Sibiricus, Pall., T. solitarius, 

 Swain., and T. aureus, Hoi., by the general colour of the plumage ; from Turdus pal- 

 lidus, Pall, by the absence of a band on the wing-coverts as well as of white tips to the 

 tail-quills ; from Turdus auroreus, Pall, by the inferior wing-coverts, which are not 

 brown ; from Turdus dubius, Brehm. and T. ruficollis, Pall, by the breast, which is not 

 tan-colored ; from Turdus minor, Richardson, by its back, which is not " yellowish- 

 brown, verging to orange-brown,'' and by the spots on its breast, which are clearly de- 

 fined ; from Turdus Wilsoni, Bonap., by the second wing-quill, which is not equal to 

 the fourth, and by its back, which is not brown ; from Turdus silens, Swain., by the 

 second wing-quill not being equal to the sixth, and by the quills, which are not tipped 

 with white. It is, besides, much smaller than any of these birds, the Turdus minor of 

 the ' Fauna Boreali-Americana ' excepted. This very rare thrush was unknown to 

 Temminck. The head, nape, back, and rump are oil-green, of an uniform tint; the 

 upper wing-coverts are of the same colour, and do not present the slightest traces of 

 transverse bands as in Turdus musicus ; the cheeks are yellowish, sprinkled with small 

 dusky spots ; the chin and throat are white, slightly tinted with yellow and spotless ; 

 the breast is white, inclining a little to very pale yellowish, and covered with nume- 

 rous small dark triangular spots ; these spots are smaller towards the thioat, but be- 

 come larger towards the lower parts, where their form becomes transversely oval ; they 

 cease along the middle of the abdomen, but extend some way along the flanks, where 

 they soon verge into a large dusky-gray cloud which occupies the posterior portion of 

 the flanks. The abdomen and under tail-coverts are pure white ; the wing- 

 quills are blackish, their exterior edge being very slightly bordered by a brown- 

 ish line as in Turdus iliacus ; the rectrices are brown above, grayish-black beneath ; 

 the under wing-coverts are white, with a few ashy spots ; a black line preceded by a 

 narrow yellow one descends from the angle of the bill, and extends along the sides of 

 the throat ; the upper mandible is blackish, the lower one yellow at the base ; the ric- 

 tus bears three or four stiff hairs ; the legs, which are remarkably slight, are pale 

 brownish. There exists no white supra-ocular band. The first wing-quill is rudi- 

 mentary ; the second is longer than the fourth ; the third is the longest ; the fifth is 

 much shorter than the fourth ; the sixth is much shorter than the fifth. The size of 

 its body does not appear to be more than half that of Turdus musicus when they are 

 laid side by side, and the bill is proportionally shorter than in that species. Latham's 



From a specimen killed in 1829 in the duchy of Anhalt Cothn near the Elbe. 



