CICHLOSELYS SIBIRICUS.
Siberian Thrush.
Turdus siiiricus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 815.
— leucocillus, Pall. Faun. Ross., tom. i. p. 450.
auroreus, Pall. Faun. Ross., tom. i. p. 448.
— alrocyaneus, Homeyer.
Merula sibirica, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 274.
Oreocincla sibirica, Jaub. Rich. Ora., p. 202.
Cichlosehjs sibericus, Bonap. in Parz. Cat. des Ois. d’Europe.
Geocichla, new. sp., Swinh. in Ibis, 1861, p. 37.
W h e t h e r the earlier British ornithologists were less observant than those o f the present day is a question
not easily solved. In all probability they were, and many strange birds visited these islands then as now,
and, after a brief sojourn, departed again to the countries whence they came ; yet we do not find any notices
of such occurrences in the works of the earlier writers on our avifauna. However this may be, certain it is that
very many species have visited us of late years both from the east and the west which do not appear to have
been known in the times o f Gilbert White, Montagu, and Bewick. With regard at least to the eastern birds
which have occurred here during the last twenty years, I suspect that very many o f them have been induced
by some unwonted cause to wander westward, and that such species as Oreocincla aurea, Merula atrogularis,
Erythrosterna parrn, Carpodacus erythrinus, Euspiza melanocephala, Emberiza pusilla, E . rustica, and Syrrhaptes
paradoxus have seldom, if ever before, paid occasional visits to the British Islands. Unable at this moment
to refer to the page, I believe I have somewhere stated in my ‘ Birds of Europe,’ published more than thirty
years ago, that a work on the “ birds of Great Britain could scarcely be considered complete unless the
whole o f the European species were figured therein, inasmuch as one or other of them would certainly occur
in our islands at some time or o th e r; and that the idea was not fallacious is evident by the occurrence of the
species mentioned above, and several others, to which I have now to add the Siberian Thrush, of which a very
fine example, now in the possession o f F. Bond, Esq., was shot by a Mr. Drewett at St. Catherine’s Hill,
near Guildford, in Surrey, in the beginning o f February 1855, during the Crimean war. This individual,
apparently a female, is faithfully represented in the upper figure o f the accompanying plate, the male being
figured from an eastern specimen. After a moment’s reflection, such a visit need not excite surprise, but
might be naturally expected, since there are many instances of the bird’s occurrence in the western parts of
the European continent, as will be seen from the following extract from Dr. Bree’s valuable * Birds of
Europe not found in the British Islands :’—
| This bird is, as its name implies, an inhabitant of Siberia; but it has occurred a sufficient number of
times in Europe to merit a place in its avifauna.
“We have the authority of Pallas for its occurrence in Southern Russia, of Professor Blasius for its
appearance in Germany; and M. Jaubert, in his ‘ Richesses Ornithologiques,’ mentions two instances of
its having been captured in France. Homeyer has described it as T. alrocyaneus upon the authority of a
fine specimen killed in the north of Germany.
“ In Dr. Sclater’s excellent paper on the geographical distribution of the genus Turdus Ibis,’
1861, p. 278) we find T. sibiricus in the Palsearctic Region, appearing in Siberia, Amoor Land, Japan,
and China; and we have its occurrence in these countries verified by Mr. Swinhoe and other writers.
Dr. Schrenck does not, however, mention it in his ‘ Reisen im Amur-Lande.’
“ O f its habits and nidification I am unable to say any thing.”
In Mr. Swinhoe’s catalogue of the birds of China, published in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological
Society of London ’ for 1863, he describes a male in complete plumage which was shot a t Amoy on the
19th of April, 1861, and remarks this is said to be a common bird in Siberia. In Japan it probably
breeds, as Captain Blakiston brought young birds from Hakodadi. In the south of China it is rare,
occurring occasionally during its migrations. It is said to have been procured as far south as Java.”
I have great pleasure in adopting the late Prince Charles Bonaparte’s generic name o f Cichloselys for this
bird, since it will not range with either Mei'ula, Turdus, or Oreocincla, to which latter form, however, it is
most nearly affined.
The figures are o f the natural size