THE RING BLACKBIRD.
Turdus torquatus, Linnæus; Merle à Plastron blanc, Buffon; Die Ringdrossel, Bechstein.
This bird is larger than the common blackbird, being in length ten inches and a half, four of which belong to the tail. The beak is an inch long, raven gray, yellowish white at the base of the lower mandible, and yellow at the angles as well as inside: the iris is chestnut brown; the shanks dark brown, and fourteen lines high; the upper part of the body is black; and it is the principal colour of the under part also; but the feathers of the belly and the coverts of the wings are edged with white; the quill-feathers, and the outside feathers of the tail are grayish white; a white spot, tinged with red, and the size of the finger, placed transversely on the breast, serves to characterize the species, and gives it its name.
The female is of a brownish black; the transverse band on the breast is narrower, and of a reddish ash-colour, shaded with brown.
Those individuals which combine the brown colour of the female with the pectoral band, large, and of a reddish white, are young males; the others, in which it is scarcely discernible, are young females.
Observations.—Though the ring blackbird traverses the whole of Europe, it builds only in the north[68]. It arrives in Germany and England on the foggy days of the end of October and beginning of November. It moves always in small flights, stopping generally in spots covered with briers and juniper bushes, where it may be caught with a noose. Its food, when free and in confinement, is the same as that of the common blackbird, with which it has the most striking resemblance in its gait, the motion of its wings and tail, and its call, “tak.” Its voice, though hoarser and deeper, is nevertheless more harmonious and agreeable. It is so weak that a red-breast may overpower it. It continues singing at all times, except when moulting. It will live in confinement from six to ten years.
THE ROCK THRUSH.
Turdus saxatilis, Linnæus; Le Merle de Roche, Buffon; Die Steindrossel, Bechstein.