iug of its eggs the Song-Thrush seems to stand almost alone
among birds. The cock takes his share in incubating; hut
does not sit so long as the hen, though he often feeds her
while she is upon the nest. The young are hatched in about
thirteen days, and the parents carry off the shells, while
they have also been observed to swallow the feces of their
offspring. Two broods at least are reared in the season.
Towards the end of summer our native Thrushes receive
a considerable accession in number from the birds that arrive
from the n o rth ; but in most localities these strangers depart
after a short sojourn, and are accompanied by the great bulk
of the homebred birds. Sufficient of the latter, however,
remain throughout the year to give rise to the general belief
that in Britain at least, the Song-Thrush is not a migratory
species, though its seasonal movements have long been noticed;
and in some parts of this island it may be stated as a fact
that not a single bird can be seen from the end of November
to the end of January or beginning of February.
The Song-Thrush is universally spread over the British
Islands, with the exception of the Shetlauds; but it is
worthy of remark that examples from the Hebrides, where
the species is very numerous, are smaller and darker in
colour than those from the mainland. I t has not been
found further to the north-west, but it has a high northern
range in Norway and Sweden, breeding at least as far as in
lat. 68 N. 1 hence it may be traced across the Russian empire
to the shores of the Pacific, for Dr. von Middendorff met
with it breeding at Udskoi-Ostrog, while Mr. Gould has a
specimen from Foochow in China, which according to Mr.
Swinhoe does not differ from European examples so much as
they differ among themselves. Its distribution in Asia is as
yet indeterminable, but it has not hitherto been recorded
from India or P e rsia ; it occurs, however, in Armenia, while
it is a winter visitor to Palestine and Arabia, extending its
flight at that season also to Egypt and Nubia. It is very
common in autumn in Algeria and the Barbary coast, and
even strays to Madeira. Within the limits thus indicated it
is everywhere a more or less common species; but in the
northern countries of Europe, it is known entirely as a
summer- just as in the south it is chiefly a winter-visitant,
and the birds which remain to breed in the latter seek the
higher elevations. Indeed its migrant habits, as already
hinted, attract great attention almost all over the continent,
and the beginning of the Drosselzug and chasse aux Grives
is regarded in many places nearly as the 12th of August and
the 1st of September are with us. Mr. Gould, in his ‘ Birds
of Great Britain,’ has given a very good account, furnished
by Mr. Box, of the tenderie, or mode of snaring Thrushes,
practised in the Ardennes, and the subject is treated in great
detail by the late Pastor Brehm in his last work (Yogelfang,
ii. pp. 162—200).
The bill is umber-brown, except the base of the lower
mandible, which is a paler yellow-brown; the irides hazel-
brown ; the upper part of the head, neck and back, wings,
rump and tail above, dark hair-brown; the outer edges of
the primaries and wing-coverts wood-brown ; from the bill to
the eye a dark-brown streak, with a lighter brown streak
over i t ; the eyelids light brown; the ear-coverts mottled
with two shades of brown, with darker tips : the chin white ;
the throat, sides of the neck, breast and flanks, ochreous-
yellow, spotted with dark brown; belly, vent and tail-
coverts, nearly white, the first with a few well-defined spots
of dark brown; tail reddish-brown beneath; legs and toes
pale brown, claws darker brown.
The whole length rather less than nine inches. The wing,
from the carpal joint to the end of the longest primary, four
inches and five-eighths: the second quill rather longer than
the fifth; the third the longest in the wing, but the fourth
nearly equals it.
The female is smaller than the male; the head and upper
part of the neck are lighter; the white of the breast not so
pure, with less of the yellow colour; the breast-spots larger,
and not so well defined.
The back and scapulars in young birds have a pale yellowish
spot in the middle of each feather, and the smaller
wing-coverts streaked with pale brown.