194 
ROCK 
Turdus saxatilis , 
Fetrocmcla saxatilis, 
Turdus —A Thrush. 
Saxum —A Eock. 
This bird is a native of Europe, Asia, and Africa, fre¬ 
quenting the most desolate parts of mountains and rocky 
districts, where culture is next to impossible, and comparative 
security is therefore gained. The wild fastnesses of the great 
chain of the Uralian Mountains, the precipices of the snow- 
clad Alps, the gorges of the Pyrenees, and other kindred 
places, give it a home and an abiding place in Germany, 
France, and Switzerland, Spain, and the Tyrol, Italy, Turkey, 
Sicily, and the Islands of the Grecian seas. 
Our only specimen—‘vix ea nostra voco,’—was shot on the 
19th. of May, 1843, by Mr. Joseph Trigg, at Therfield, near 
Royston, in the county of Hertford. Mr. Yarrell was the 
first to give a figure of it as a British species. x4nother 
individual is also mentioned by him, as having been said to 
have been killed by a gamekeeper, but neither date nor 
locality is recorded. 
It migrates in the colder season of the year from the more 
northern to the more southern of the countries mentioned 
above. 
It is a very shy bird, but nevertheless is capable of being 
kept in confinement. 
Its food consists of insects and berries of various kinds. 
The Rock Thrush is an excellent songster, and has been 
known to sing at night if a candle was brought into the 
room in which the cage was placed. 
The nest is said to be made of moss. It is placed in 
crevices of rocks, whether those which have fallen down from 
THRUSH. 
Temminck. 
Vigors. Gould. 
Saxatilis —Pertaining to Rocks. 
