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TUR 
TUR 
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divisions, running from the aperture to the 
apes. There is a variety pellucid, with very 
thin edges. It is analogous to that curious 
and expensive shell, the wen tie-trap. See 
Piate Nat. Hist. tig. 41 1. 
TURBOT. See Pleuronectes. 
TU RDUS, the thrush, a genus of birds be- 
longing to the order of passeres. The bill is 
straight, bending towards the point, and 
slightly notched near the end of the upper 
mandible. The nostrils are oval, half cover- 
ed with a membrane ; the corners of the 
mouth are furnished with a few slender hairs, 
and the tongue is slightly jagged at the end. 
There are 136 species, of which seven are 
British, the viscivorus, pilaris, iliacus, nu:si- 
cus, rose us, merula, and torquatus. 
1. The viscivorus, or missel, is the largest 
of the genus. Its length is eleven inches ; 
its breadth sixteen and a half. The bill is 
shorter and thicker than that of other thrushes ; 
dusky, except the base of the lower mandible, 
which is yellow. The irides are hazel. Head, 
back, and lesser coverts of the wings, are of 
a deep olive-brown. The lower part ol the 
back is tinged with yellow. The lowest order 
or lesser coverts, and the great coverts, are 
brown, the first tipped with white, the last 
both tipped and edged with the same colour. 
r l Ire inner coverts of the wings white. The 
tail is brown ; the three outermost feathers 
tipped with white. The cheeks and throat 
are mottled with brov. n and white ; the breast 
and belly are whitish yellow, marked with 
large spots of black ; the legs are yellow. 
These birds build their nests in bushes, or 
on the side of some tree, and lay four or five 
eggs : their note of anger or fear is very 
harsh, between a chatter and shriek. Its 
song, however, is very fine; which it begins 
sitting on the summit of a high tree, very 
early in the spring, often with the new year, 
in blowing showery weather, which makes 
the inhabitants of Hampshire call it the 
storm-cock. It feeds on insects, holly and 
misseltoe berries, which are the food of all 
the thrush kind : in severe snowy weather, 
when there is a failure of their usual diet, 
thev are observed to scratch out of the banks 
of hedges the root of arum, or the cuckoo- 
pint ; this is remarkably warm and pungent, 
and a provision suitable to the season. 
2. The pilaris, or fieldfare, is in length ten 
inches, in breath seventeen. The head is 
ash-coloured inclining to olive, and spotted 
with black ; the back and greater coverts 
of the wings of a fine deep chesnut ; the tail 
is black ; the lower parts of the two middle- 
most feathers, and the interior upper sides 
of the outmost feathers, excepted ; the first 
being ash-coloured, the latter white. The 
legs are black ; the talons very strong. This 
bird passes the summer in the northern parts 
of Europe ; also in Lower Austria. It breeds 
m the largest trees: feeds on berries of all 
kinds, and is very fond of those of the juniper. 
Fieldfares visit our islands in great docks 
about Michaelmas, and leave us the latter 
end of February or the beginning of March. 
These birds and the redwings were the 
turdi of the Romans, which they fattened 
With crumbs of figs and bread mixed toge- 
tr:er. Varro informs us that they were birds 
passage, coming in autumn, and departing 
in the spring. They must have been taken 
in great numbers ; for, according to Varro 
Uib. 3- c. 5;)* they were kept by thousands 
together in their fattening aviaries. They do 
not arrive in France till the beginning of De- 
cember. 
3. The musicus, or throstle, is in length 
nine inches, in breadth thirteen and a half. 
In colour, it so nearly resembles the missel- 
thrush, that no other remark need to be 
added, but that it is less, and that the inner 
coverts of the wings are yellow. The throstle 
is the finest of our singing birds, not only for 
the swe, tness and variety of its notes, but 
for the long continuance of its harmony ; for 
it obliges us with its song for near three parts 
of the year. Like the missel-bird, it delivers 
its music from the top of some high tree ; but 
to form its nest descends to some low bush 
or thicket : the nest is made of earth, moss, 
and straw, and the inside is curiously plais- 
tered with clay, or rather clay and cow-dung 
mixed. It lays live or six eggs, of a pale 
bluish green, marked with dusky spots. 
4. The iliacus, or redwing, has a very near 
resemblance to the throstle ; but is less : their 
colours are. rv_ych the same; only the sides 
under the wings and the inner coverts in this 
are of a reddish orange, in the throstle yel- 
low ; above each eye is a line of yellowish 
white, • beginning at the bill and passing to- 
wards the hind part of the head. These birds 
appear in Great Britain a few days before the 
fieldfare ; they come in flocks, and from 
the same countries as the latter. With us 
they have only a disagreeable piping note ; 
but in Svveden, during the spring, they sing 
very finely, perching on the top of some tree 
among the forests of maples. They build 
their nests in hedges, and lay sixblueish-green 
eggs spotted with black. 
5. The merula, or blackbird ; when the 
male has attained its full age, it is of a fine 
deep black, and the bill of a bright yellow ; 
the edges of the eyelids yellow. When young, 
the bill is dusky, and the plumage of a rusty 
black, so that they are not to be distinguish- 
ed from the females ; but at the age of one 
year they attain their proper colour. This 
bird is of a very retired and solitary nature, 
and frequents hedges and thickets, in which it 
builds earlier than any other bird ; the nest is 
formed of moss, dead grass, fibres, &c. lined 
and plaistered with clay, and that again co- 
vered with hay or small straw. It lays four 
or five eggs of a dusky green colour, marked 
with irregular spots. The note of the male 
is extremely fine, but too loud for any place 
except the woods ; it begins to sing early in 
the spring, continues its music part of the 
summer, desists in the moulting season, but 
resumes it for some time in September and 
the winter months. 
6. The torquatus, or ring-ouzel, is superior 
in size to the blackbird ; the length is eleven 
inches, breadth seventeen. The bill in some 
is wholly black, in others the upper half is 
yellow ; on each side the mouth are a few 
bristles ; the head and whole upper part of 
the body are dusky, edged with pale brown ; 
the quill-feathers and tiie tail are black. The 
coverts of the wings, the upper part of the 
breast, and the belly, are dusky, slightly edg- 
ed with ash-colour. T he middle of the breast 
is adorned with a white crescent, the horns 
of which point to the hind part of the neck. 
I In some birds this is of a pure white, in -others 
of a dirty hue. In the females and in young 
birds this mark is wanting, which gave occa- 
sion to some naturalists to ‘fi rm (wo specie 
of them. The ring-ouzel inhabits the High- 
land hills, the north of England, and the 
mountains of Wales. They are-also found tu 
breed in Dartmoor, in Devonshire, and iu 
banks on the sides of streams. The places 
of their retreat are not known. In Scotland 
and Wales they breed in the hills, but de- 
scend to the lower parts to feed on the berries 
of the mountain-ash. They migrate in France 
at tire latter season; and appear in small 
flocks about Monthard in Burgundy, in the 
beginning of October, but seldom stay above 
two or three weeks.. 
To these we shall add the description of the- 
orpheus, or mocking thrush, which is a native 
of America. It is about the size of a thrush, 
of a white and grey colour, and a reddish bill. 
It is possessed not only of its own natural 
notes, which are musical and solemn, but it 
can assume the tone of every other animal in 
the wood, from the wolf to the raven. It 1 
seems even to sport itself in leading them 
astray. It will at one time allure the lesser 
birds with the call of their males, and then, 
terrify them when they come near with .the- 
Screams of the eagle. There is no bird in 
the forest but it can mimick ; and there is- 
none that it has not at times deceived by itx 
call. But, unlike such as we usually see 
famed for mimicking with us, and who have 
no particular merit of their own, the mock- 
bird is ever sure to please when it is most it- 
self. At those times it usually frequents the 
houses of the American planters; and sitting 
all night on the chimney-top, pours forth ti e 
sweetest and the most various notes of any 
bird whatever. It would seem, if accounts, 
are true, that the deficiency of most other 
song-birds in that country is made up by this, 
bird alone. They often build their nests in. 
the fruit-trees about houses, feed upon ber- 
ries and other fruits, and are easily rendered 
domestic. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 4 12 
TURIONES, among herbalists, denotes; 
the first young tender shoots, which plants 
annually put forth. 
TURKEY, See Meleagris. 
TURMERIC. See Curcuma. 
TURNAMENT, or Tournament, a: 
martial sport, or exercise, which the antienfc 
cavaliers used to perform to shew their, 
bravery and address. 
TURN ERA, a genus of the pentandria 
trigynia class of plant's, the flower of which 
consists of five petals obversely cordated, and. 
sharp-pointed ; the fruit is an oval, unilocular- 
capsule, containing a great many oblong and 
obtuse seeds. There are nine species. 
TURNING, the art of forming hard bo- 
dies, as wood, ivory, or iron, into a round or 
oval shape, by means of a machine called a 
lathe. This art was well known to the an- 
tients, and seems to have been carried by 
them to a very great degree of perfection ; at 
least, if we believe the testimony of Pliny 
and several other authors, who tell us, that 
those precious vases enriched with figures in 
half-relief, which still adorn our cabinets, 
were turned on the lathe. See Lathe. 
The art of turning is of considerable im- 
portance, as it contributes essentially to the 
perfection of many other arts. The archi- 
tect uses it for many ornaments, both within 
and without highly finished houses. The 
mathematician, the astronomer, and the na- 
tural philosopher, have recourse to it, nut 
