THE BLACK-THROATED THRUSH. 

 Turdus atrigularis, Temminck. 

 Plate i. 



This rare straggler from Western Siberia has been taken thrice in England, 

 the first having been shot near Lewes, Sussex, in December 1868, the second in 

 Kent, January 1909, and the last in the same county, March 191 1. In Scotland 

 one was obtained near Perth in February 1879. 



Mr. H. L. Popham, who took the first authentic eggs of this species in Siberia, 

 says {Ibis, 1898, p. 494) : " Although several pairs were nesting in the same locality, 

 they were not by any means in colonies, like the Fieldfares. I obtained my first 

 specimen at Yeniseisk, but did not meet with this Thrush again till we came to 

 Inbatskaya, where I took five nests, each containing six eggs, which vary 

 considerably. Two clutches have the markings of the Mistle-Thrush, but the 

 ground colour is of a deeper blue ; other clutches are very much of the type of the 

 Blackbird, and in one of these latter a single egg has the markings of the Mistle- 

 Thrush type. The nests, composed of dry grass with a lining of mud and an 

 inner lining of broad dry grass, were all placed in small fir-trees close to the stem 

 (except one, which was on the top of a stump) at heights varying between 3 feet 

 and 6 feet." He also states, "When singing, the male whistles a few notes at a 

 time, somewhat like a Song-Thrush with considerable variation, but does not 

 repeat the same phrase two or three times." 



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