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P A L L I D T H R U SH .
Turdus pallidus, Pall.
Le Merle blafard.
T h e claim of this bird to a place in the Fauna of Europe, says M. Temminck, (from whom we received
the specimen from which our figure was taken,) is based on the capture of three individuals, one of which was
taken in September 1823, near Herzberg in Saxony. It is one of the many discoveries made by Pallas, whose
merits as a naturalist are too well known to require our praise.
Like the Turdus Sibericus this bird is extremely common in Japan, whence, through the kindness of
M. Temminck, we have received several examples: it is also spread over the whole of Siberia, and occasionally
passes the boundary line and visits the centre of Europe.
Of its habits, manners, and nidification nothing is known, but in these respects it doubtless closely resembles
the other members of the genus.
The whole of the upper surface is of an olive brown; ear-coverts brown with a faint line of white down the
centre of each feather; tips of the wing-coverts yellowish, forming a band across the wing; sides of the
throat pale reddish brown blotched with white; chest and flanks pale reddish brown, the former ornamented
with numerous spots of a darker tint; throat, centre of the abdomen, and under tail-coverts white; two
outer tail-feathers largely tipped with whitish on their inner web; bill and feet light brown.
We possess other specimens in which the spots on the breast are wanting, and the white of the throat and
abdomen is less pure; but whether this difference is occasioned by sex or age we are unable to determine.
We have figured the bird in both states of the natural size.