THE ROSE OUZEL.
Turdus roseus, Linnæus; Le Merle Couleur de Rose, Buffon; Die Rosenfarbigedrossel, Bechstein.
This is a bird which from its beauty certainly merits a place in this work. Its length is nearly eight inches, of which the tail measures three, and the beak one. This latter is black, sometimes lead-coloured, from the base to the middle, and flesh or rose-coloured from the middle to the point; the iris is whitish; the shanks are fourteen lines high, lighter or darker flesh-coloured; the claws are blackish. The head, neck, and throat, are black, with the tips of the feathers white, very much like the starling, and changeable into green, blue, and purple; the feathers at the top of the head are long and narrow, and rise elegantly into a crest; the back, the rump, the shoulders, the breast, the belly, and the sides, are of a brighter or paler rose-colour, according to the age and season.
The female differs from the male only in being less highly and brilliantly coloured.
Habitation.—When wild these birds are to be met with in many parts of Europe and Asia. The inhabitants of Aleppo and the neighbourhood see with pleasure the arrival of large flights of them, in the months of July and August, to extirpate the clouds of locusts which then ravage the country. Great numbers are also seen in spring on the banks of the Don and Irtish, where they build and find abundance of food; also on the shores of the Caspian and the banks of the Wolga. In Europe they appear in Sweden as far as Lapland, in England, in Germany, in Switzerland, and France: rare indeed in all these countries, but least so in Italy.
In confinement this bird is kept in a cage of the same size as the blackbird’d.
Food.—When wild this bird appears to subsist entirely on insects.
In confinement it would doubtless thrive very well on the food which is given to the blackbird, which will be mentioned hereafter. It is better, however, to study it a little, and find out what suits it best.