380 
Mr. R. F. Tomes on White’s Thrush. 
obtained, a few years since, a specimen of the Rose-coloured 
Pastor; and Starlings and Thrushes abound. Of insect-feeders 
there is an equally good supply; and I have had more than one 
opportunity of inspecting the nesting of the lesser Spotted 
Woodpecker. 
In a small grass inclosure immediately adjoining the village, 
and thickly surrounded by elms, a friend of mine observed a 
bird rise from a dry leafy ditch, which at the first glance was 
mistaken for a Woodcock, but soon recognized as one of the 
Thrush kind. This happened on the 6th of January; and on 
hearing the account, I stimulated further search, but without 
effect until the 23rd of that month, when the bird was again 
flushed from the same inclosure, and, as before, from the bottom 
of a dry ditch amongst dead leaves. Again on the 26th it rose 
from the same ditch, and within a few yards of the same spot. 
On each occasion it was busied in turning over the dead leaves, 
from beneath which it appears to have taken its food. Although 
Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Missel-thrushes were abundant and 
seen at the same time feeding on the ivy and hawthorn berries, 
the present bird was always observed to resort only to the trees 
or hedges when disturbed, and then merely as a place of rest, 
remaining for some time perched in an upright position in one 
spot, without noticing the berries or the species feeding on them. 
Its flight when roused from its feeding was very undulating, 
like that of the Green Woodpecker, and low, often settling on 
the ground, and only making choice of a tree when it happened 
to pass under one, into which it rose almost vertically. As far 
as its habits could be ascertained from these short opportunities 
of observation, it would appear to be almost entirely a ground 
feeder. Mr. Blyth says of the allied Indian species, Oreocincla 
dauma, that it is generally met with amongst bamboos, in which 
situation the ground would very likely be the attraction, rather 
than the canes. 
I have been thus particular in the description of the locality 
in which the bird appeared, on account of the interval which 
occurred between its first and second appearance; for it must be 
supposed that it was a suitable one, or it would not have again 
returned to it after an absence of more than a fortnight. 
