6 



FLOWER-GARDENS 



bird, with notes somewhat different from those 

 of our own ; for its song was partly that of the 

 blackbird, and partly that of the stormcock, but 

 not so loud as the last, nor so varied as the 

 first. I found out my mistake in due time ; 

 and, on seeing that the bird was the true soli- 

 tary thrush, I paid particular attention to its 

 habits. 



It is indeed a solitary bird, for it never asso- 

 ciates with any other, and only with its own 

 mate in breeding time; and even then it is 

 often seen quite alone upon the house-top, 

 where it warbles in sweet and plaintive strains, 

 and continues its song as it moves in easy flight 

 from roof to roof. The traveller who is fond of 

 ornithology may often see this bird on the re- 

 mains of the Temple of Peace, and occasionally 

 in the Villa Borghese, but much more fre- 

 quently on the stupendous ruins of the Baths 

 of Caracalla, where it breeds in holes of the 

 walls, and always on the Colosseum, where it 

 likewise makes its nest; and, in fine, at one 

 time or other of the day, on the tops of most 

 of the churches, monasteries, and convents, 

 within and without the walls of the eternal city. 



It lays five eggs of a very pale blue. They 



