Sweden it is a plentiful summer visitor, reaching to or a little beyond the Arctic Circle in the former
country. In his work on the Fauna of the Kola Peninsula, Dr. Pleske writes :— The species occurs
only in the southern part of the country, and is, as a rule, not found above the limits of the pine-woods.
Von Wright found a nest with young birds at the foot of Aavasaksa on the 17th of June. Palmen-
Sahlberg observed the Song-Thrush several times in the Muonio parish, where it breeds sparingly.
According to the observations of Knoblock, published in Westerlund’s work, it is pretty common at
Muoniovaara, where it probably inhabits the Sub-alpine. Region. In Torne§.-Lappmark the
complement of eggs is laid by the end of May or the beginning of June. Mela reports that
the Song-Thrush is common in summer near the Imandra Lake in Russian Lapland. The
reputed occurrence of the species in Enontekis, chronicled, by Grape, seems to me to be
untrustworthy.”
Near Archangel the Song-Thrush is a tolerably common summer visitor, according to Henke
(Seebohm, Ibis, 1882, p. 376), and its breeding-range is said to extend to 60° N. lat. in Russia and
Siberia. The Seebohm Collection contains specimens from the neighbourhood of Krasnoyarsk,
obtained by Mr. Kibort in May and September. Further eastward, the Song-Thrush has been found
nesting near Lake Baikal and on the Irkout River by Godlewski and Dybowski. Middendorff also
found it nesting not uncommonly near Udskoi-Ostrog. The species has not yet been met with in
Dauria, nor in the Ussuri district, or the shores of the Japanese Sea, or in Kamtchatka (Taczanowski,
Faune Orn. Sibir. Orient, i. p. 317).
Over France, Germany, and the greater part of Europe the Song-Thrush is distributed during
the summer, and it nests in the Pyrennees, where Mr. Howard Saunders has seen eggs in the Basque
Provinces (Ibis, 1884, p. 369). He believes that only a small number remain to breed, but at
Santander Colonel Irby found the species common and nesting (Ibis, 1883, p. 12). In Spain, as in
most of the Mediterranean countries, it is a plentiful visitor in winter, but none have been known to
breed even in the higher wooded regions of the Sierra Nevada, according to Mr. Howard Saunders’s
notes. Mr. Tait. says that he has only found it in winter in Portugal, and believes that it does hot
breed in that country, as he says that he has “ looked for it without success during summer in the
northern Serra do Gorez, which would be the most likely place if it lingered anywhere in the country ”
(Ibis, 1887, p. 84). It is very plentiful in winter in Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco, and Mr. Meade-
Waldo (Ibis, 1893, p. 187) says that it is an abundant winter visitor to the high ground in the Canary
Islands, but he does not remember to have seen it lower than about 1800 fe e t; a few remain till
April. ^
To Italy the Song-Thrush is principally-known as a winter migrant, but not a few breed in the
highest mountains, according to Count Salvadori’s note in Mr. Dresser’s * Birds of Europe ’ (vol. ii.
p. 22). With regard to its nesting in Greece, we have only Yon der Miihle’s belief that it breeds in
Rumelia, but Lindermayer considers it to be only a winter visitor. Robson states that the Thrush
breeds in the large woods in Turkey in Europe and Asia {cf. his note in Dresser’s ‘ Birds of Europe ’),
and also comes in large numbers in winter, at which season it is found in Palestine and Egypt,
ranging into Nubia and occurring also in Northern Arabia.
The Song-Thrush breeds in the Caucasus, but is not recorded from Turkestan, and it winters
in Persia, occurring at Bushire and at Fao in the Persian Gulf, where it has been obtained by
Mr. W. D. Cumming as late as March (Sharpe, Ibis, 1886, pp. 482, 495).
The present species is replaced in China by a resident bird, Turdus auritus, which has larger
spots below and a more distinct black crescent on the ear-coverts. The Gould Collection contains a
specimen, said to have come from Foochow, which has been referred to the latter species, but I find
on examination that it is really an example of an English Song-Thrush, and some mistake has
doubtless occurred as to the locality.
The following account of the habits of this species is extracted from Seebohm’s | History of
British Birds ’ :—
“ The Song-Thrush is a skulking bird, although not'perhaps so much so as the Blackbird. It
is extremely fond of hiding under dense thickets and the broad close foliage of evergreens where the
branches sweep the ground. It is here that the birds obtain much of their food ; and in some cases!
regular paths are made through the dense underwood, especially behind walls or hedgerows, which
often put you in mind of a weasel’s ‘ run.’ Indeed the Song-Thrush is, of all other birds, perhaps
the most frequently caught in the ‘ figure of four’ traps set lor weasels, owing to its peculiar habit
of hopping under the brushwood. Like the Blackbird, it is flushed with difficulty when in these
situations, and always prefers to hop quickly along the ground rather than take wing. When flushed,
it flies rapidly away, and alights suddenly, as though anxious to enter the nearest suitable cover and
hide itself as quickly as possible. The Song-Thrush is more often seen above the tree-tops than the
Blackbird, and will take long and rapid flights to and from its feeding-grounds at some elevation,
seldom uttering a note. It becomes unusually vociferous towards evening; and its chattering cry is
heard well into the night. In autumn, or, perhaps, still more the last few fine days before winter
fairly sets in, its garrulity is the greatest. Then in the wooded depths of its roosting-place you
hear its sharp cry* almost like the noise made by a ratchet-drill, which it keeps up as it flits from place
to place long-after it begins to be dark, and when most other birds have retired to rest. Upon the
ground the Song-Thrush proceeds in a series of hops, seldom if ever running or walking. His
attitude when in the act of listening intently is with the wings drooping slightly, tail almost
horizontal, and head slightly raised; but he never elevates his tail upon alighting, like the
Blackbird does.
“ In our own country, as soon as the days of summer decline and autumnal tints appear in the
landscape, the Song-Thrush is seen in little companies; and as autumn passes away, and the fogs
and chilly nights of November arrive, the birds nearly all take their departure, and where they once
swarmed only one or two solitary individuals are to be seen. The Rivelin valley, a few miles from
Sheffield, is annually the scene of an unmistakable migration of the SoDg-Thrush. Late in autumn
the birds for a few days, literally swarm in the Rivelin copses, where at all other times of the year
they are absent altogether, or nearly so. Although the birds abound here so plentifully they are not
at all gregarious : social they may b e ; yet each seems to confine itself to its own affairs, to fly off
alone, and apparently to Jive by itself. By the latter end of January or the beginning of February,
when the first faint signs of approaching spring are seen, the Song-Thrushes are back once more in
their old haunts. There can be little doubt that they migrate, like the Red-wing, in the n igh t; for
one day not a bird is to be seen in their favourite haunts, but the next their mellow varied song
fills the air. Instantly upon their arrival they are in full song, and pairing begins at once.
Heligoland is an excellent post of observation for seeing the migration of the Song-Thrush. On the
eastern side of this interesting little rock are the ‘ throstle-bushes.’ The island contains scarcely
any trees or shrubs, and is for the most part laid out in potato-patches. These ‘ throstle-bushes ’
are erected by the inhabitants, and have a net on one side, into which the poor Thrushes are driven
with lanterns and sticks the instant they alight. By the side of these artificial bushes the
Heligolanders watch on favourable nights for the arrival of the birds. Aeuckens, the bird-stuffer
there, related to me with great gusto how, suddenly, a rush and whirl of wings would be heard, and,
without a moment’s warning, the throstle-bushes would swarm with Thrushes, not dropped, but as
if shot like an arrow from a bow perpendicularly down from the invisible heights of mid-air. The
number of Thrushes thus caught is almost incredible, it being no unusual thing for several
hundreds to be taken in a single night, thus clearly proving to what a very great extent the Song-
Thrush is a migratory bird. In our own land we suspect the reason this migration has been
• u 2