their notes are softer, and their manner more musically soothing, than those of hard-billed birds. The foremost in musical fame are the nightingale, the thrush, the blackbird, the lark, the redbreast, the black-cap, and the wren. Birds of the sparrow-kind, with thick and short bills, are the gross-beak, the green-finch, the bull-finch, the crossbill, the house-sparrow, the chaffinch, the brambling, the gold-finch, the linnet, the siskin, the bunting, the yellow-hammer, the ortlan, the wheat-ear, and several other foreign birds, of which we know rather the names than the history. These chiefly feed upon fruits, grain, and corn. They are often troublesome to man, as they are a numerous tribe; the harvest often suffers from their depredations; and while they are driven off from one end of the field, they fly round, and come in at the other. But these also have their uses: they are frequently the distributors of seeds into different districts; those grains which they swallow are sometimes not wholly digested; and these, laid upon a soil congenial to them, embellish the face of nature with that agreeable variety which art but vainly attempts to imitate. The mistletoe plant, which we often see growing on the tops of elm and other trees, has been thought to be propagated in this manner; yet, as it is often seen growing on the under side of the branch, and sometimes on a perpendicular shoot, it seems extraordinary how a seed could be deposited in that situation. However this be, there are many plants propagated from the depositions of birds; and some seeds are thought to thrive the better for first having undergone a kind of maceration in the stomach of the little animal, before it is voided on the ground. This class of small birds, like all the greater, has its wanderers, that leave us for a season, and then return, to propagate, to sing, or to embellish the landscape here. Some of this smaller kind, indeed, are called birds of passage, that do not properly come under that denomination; for though they disappear in one place they never leave the kingdom, but are seen somewhere else. But there are many among them that take longer flights, and go to a region colder or warmer, as it suits their constitutions. The fieldfare and the red-wing breed pass their summers in Norway, and other cold countries, and are tempted hither to our mild winters, and to those various berries which then abound with us, and make their principal food. The hawfinch and the crossbill are uncertain visitants, and have no stated times of migration. Swallows of tinually be heard, and form exceptions to the genera! blackbird, and thrush, in mild winters, may conprocedure of our British birds; and we have one little bird, the woodlark (Alauda arborea), that, in the early parts of the autumnal months, delights us with its harmony, and its carols may be heard in the air commonly during the calm sunny mornings of this season. They have a softness and quietness, perfectly in unison with the sober, almost melancholy, stillness of the hour. The skylark also sings now, and its song is very sweet, full of harmony, cheerful circles and sports, and known and admired by all; as the blue sky and gladdening beam in which it but the voice of the woodlark is local-not so generally heard from its softness, must almost be listened for, to be distinguished, and has not any pretensions likewise in the spring; but at that season, the conto the hilarity of the former. This little bird sings tending songsters of the grove, and the variety of sound proceeding from everything that has utterance, confuse and almost render inaudible the placid voice of the woodlark. It delights to fix its residence There are some agreeable songsters in this is a very unobtrusive bird, not uniting in companies, near little groves and copses, or quiet pastures, and tribe also; and those who like a loud piercing but associating in its own little family-parties only, pipe, endued with great variety and persever-feeding in the woodlands on seeds and insects. Upon ance, will be pleased most with their singing. The songsters of this class are the canary-bird, the linnet, the chaffinch, the gold-finch, the greenfinch, the bull-finch, the brambling, the siskin, and the yellow-hammer. The note of these is not so generally pleasing as that of the softbilled birds, but it usually holds longer; and, in a cage, these birds are more easily fed, and more hardy.3 3 Voices of Birds.-"We note birds in general more from their voices then their plumage; for the carols of spring may be heard involuntarily, but to observe the form and decoration of these creatures requires an attention not always given. Yet we have some native birds beautifully and conspicuously feathered; the gold-finch, the chaffinch, the wagtails, are all eminently adorned, and the fine gradations of sober browns in several others are very pleasing. Those sweet sounds, called the song of birds, proceed only from the male; and, with a few exceptions, only during the season of incubation. Hence the comparative quietness of our summer months, when this care is over, except from accidental causes, where a second nest is formed; few of our birds bringing up more than one brood in the season. The redbreast, The the approach of man, it crouches close to the ground, but settles again almost immediately. This lark will then suddenly darts away, as if for a distant flight, often continue its song, circle in the air, a scarcely visible speck, by the hour together; and the vast distance from which its voice reaches us in a calm day is almost incredible. In the scale of comparison, and plaintiveness; but compass of voice is given to it stands immediately below the nightingale in melody the linnet, a bird of very inferior powers. strength of the larynx and of the muscles of the throat in birds is infinitely greater than in the human race. The loudest shout of the peasant is but a feeble cry, compared with that of the golden-eyed duck, the wild goos), or even this lark. The sweet song of this poor little bird, with a fate like that of the nightingale, renders it an object of capture and confinement, which few of them comparatively sur vive. I have known our country bird-catchers take them by a very simple but effectual method. Watching them to the ground, the wings of a hawk, or of the brown owl stretched out, are drawn against the current of air by a string, as a paper kite, and made to flutter and vibrate like a kestrel over the place where the woodlark has lodged; which so intimidates the bird, that it remains crouching and motionless as a stone on the ground; a hand net is brought over it, and it is caught."-Journal of a Naturalist. every species disappear at the approach of winter. | sparrow-kind, and may be distinguished from all The nightingale, the black-cap, the fly-catcher, others of this class, as well by their size, which the willow-wren, the wheat-ear, the whin-chat, is well known, as by their bills, which are a little and the stone-chatter leave us long before the bending at the point; a small notch near the approach of winter; while the siskin and the end of the upper chap; and the outmost toe linnet only forsake us when our winters are more adhering as far as the first joint of the middle than usually severe. All the rest of the smaller toe. To this tribe may be also added the stare tribe never quit this country: but support the or starling, which, though with a flat bill, too severest rigours of the climate. much resembles these birds to be placed any where else. Yet it must not be supposed that the manners of our little birds prevail in all other countries; and that such kinds as are stationary with us never wander in other parts of Europe; on the contrary, it happens that many of those kinds which are birds of passage in England are seen, in other places, never to depart, but to make one country their fixed residence the whole year round. It is also frequent, that some birds, which with us are faithful residents, in other kingdoms put on the nature of birds of passage, and disappear for a season. The swallow, that with us is particularly remarked for being a bird of passage, in Upper Egypt and in the island of Java breeds and continues the whole year, without ever disappearing. Larks, that remain with us the year throughout, are birds of passage in Sweden; and forsake that climate in winter to return again with the returning spring. The chaffinch, that with us is stationary, appears during the winter in Carolina and Virginia; but disappears totally in summer to breed in the more northern regions. In Sweden, also, these little birds are seen returning, at the approach of spring, from the warmer climates, to propagate; which being accomplished by the latter end of autumn, the males and females separate; the males to continue among their native snows, the females to seek a warmer and gentler winter. On this occasion, they are seen in flocks, that darken all the air, without a single male among them, making their way into the more southern regions of Denmark, Germany, and Holland. In this Amazon-like retreat thousands fall by the way; some by fatigue, some by want; but the greatest number by the nets of the fowler; the taking them being one of the chief amusements among the gentry where they pass. In short, the change of country with all this little tribe, is rather a pilgrimage than a journey; a migration rather of necessity than of choice. Having thus given a general idea of the birds of this class, it will be proper to give some account of the most remarkable among them. CHAP. II. OF THE THRUSH, AND ITS AFFINITIES. WITH the thrush we may rank the red-wing, the field-fare, the blackbird, the ring-ouzel, and the water-ouzel. These are the largest of the The missel-thrush is distinguished from all of the kind by its superior size, being much larger than any of them. It differs scarcely in any other respect from the throstle, except that the spots on the breast are larger. It builds its nest in bushes, or on the side of some tree, as all of this kind are found to do, and lays four or five eggs in a season. Its song is very fine, which it begins in spring, sitting on the summit of a high tree. It is the largest bird of all the feathered tribe that has music in its voice; the note of all greater birds being either screaming, chattering, or croaking. It feeds on insects, holly, and misletoe-berries; and sometimes sends forth a very disagreeable scream when frighted or disturbed.1 The blackbird, which in cold countries, and particularly upon the Alps, is sometimes seen all over white, is a beautiful and canorous bird, whistling all the spring and summer time with a note, at a distance, the most pleasing of all the grove. It is the deepest toned warbler of the woods; but it is rather unpleasant in a cage, being loud and deafening. It lays four or five bluish eggs, in a nest usually built at the stump of some old hawthorn, well plastered on the inside with clay, straw, and hair.2 Pleasing, however, as this bird may be, the blue-bird, described by Bellonius, is in every respect far superior. This beautiful animal entirely resembles a blackbird in all but its blue colour. It lives in the highest parts of the Alps, and even there chooses the most craggy rocks and the most frightful precipices for its residence. As it is rarely caught, it is in high estimation even in the countries where it breeds, but still more valuable when carried from home. It not only whistles in the most delightful manner, but speaks with an articulate distinct voice. It is so docile, and observes all things with such diligence, that though waked at midnight by any of the family, it will speak and whistle at the word of command. Its colour, about the beginning of winter, from blue becomes black, which changes to its original hue on the first approaches of spring. It makes its nest in deep holes, in very high and inaccessible solitudes, and removes it not only from the accesses of man, but also hides it with surprising cunning from the shammoy and other wild beasts that might annoy its young. t The manner of taking this beautiful bird is said to be this. The fowlers, either by chance or by lying in wait, having found out the place where it builds, take with them a strong stilt or stake, such as the climbers of rocks make use of to assist them in their ascent. With the ascistance of this, they mount where an indifferent spectator would think it impossible to ascend, covering their heads at the same time to ward off any danger of the falling of pebbles or stones from above. At length, with extreme toil and danger, having arrived at the nest, they draw it up from the hole in which it is usually buried, and cherish the young with an assiduity equal to the pains they took to obtain them. It produces for the most part five young, and never more; it seldom descends into the plain country, flies swifter than a blackbird, and uses the same food. The fieldfare and the red-wing make but a short stay in this country. With us they are insipid tuneless birds, flying in flocks, and excessively watchful to preserve the general safety. All their season of music and pleasure is employed in the more northern climates, where they sing most delightfully, perched among the forests of maples, with which those countries abound. They build their nest in hedges; and lay six bluish-green eggs spotted with black.3 The stare, distinguishable from the rest of this tribe by the glossy green of its feathers in some lights, and the purple in others, breeds in hollow trees, eaves of houses, towers, ruins, cliffs, and often in high rocks over the sea. It lays four or five eggs of a pale greenish ash-colour, and makes its nest of straw, small fibres of roots, and such like. Its voice is rougher than the rest of this kind; but what it wants in the melody of its note, it compensates by the facility with which it is taught to speak. In winter these birds assemble in vast flocks, and feed upon worms and insects. At the approach of spring they assemble in fields as if in consultation together, and for three or four days seem to take no nourishment: the greater part leave the country; the rest breed here, and bring up their young. To this tribe might be added above a hundred other birds of nearly the thrush size, and living like them upon fruit and berries. Words could not afford variety enough to describe all the beautiful tints that adorn the foreign birds of the thrush kind. The brilliant green of the emerald, the flaming red of the ruby, the purple of the amethyst, or the bright blue of the sapphire, could not, by the most artful combination, show any thing so truly lively or delightful to the sight, as the feathers of the chilcoqui or the tautotal. Passing, therefore, over these beautiful, but little known, birds, I will only mention the American mock-bird, the favourite songster 3 See Supplementary Note A, sub. 4 See Supplementary Note B, p. 130. 4 of a region, where the birds excel rather in the beauty of their plumage than the sweetness of their notes. This valuable bird does not seem to vie with the feathered inhabitants of that country in the beauty of its plumage, content with qualifications that endear it to mankind much more. It is but a plain bird to the eye, about the size of a thrush, of a white and gray colour, and a reddish bill. It is possessed not only of its own natural notes, which are musical and solemn, but it can assume the tone of every other animal in the wood, from the wolf to the raven. It seems even to sport itself in leading them astray. It will, at one time, allure the lesser birds with the call of their males, and then terrify them, when they have come near, with the screams of the eagle. There is no bird in the forest but it can mimic; and there is none that it has not, at times, deceived by its call. But, not like such as we usually see famed for mimicking with us, and which have no particular merit of their own, the mock-bird is ever surest to please when it is most itself. At those times it usually frequents the houses of the American planters; and, sitting all night on the chimney-top, pours forth the sweetest and the most various notes of any bird whatever. It would seem, if accounts be true, that the deficiency of most other song-birds in that country is made up by this bird alone. They often build their nests in the fruit trees about houses, feed upon berries and other fruïts, and are easily rendered domestic." 5 See Supplementary Note C, p. 132. NOTE A.-The British Thrushes. The thrush genus is divided by Temminck into two sections, viz. those that inhabit woods and thickets in the lower grounds; and such as live solitary, in rocky and mountainous countries. British species all belong to the first section. The The missel-thrush is the largest of its tribe, and is indigenous in Great Britain; but its distribution is the song-thrush and blackbird. Except during the not so extensive, nor locally so abundant as that of period of the production of its young, it is a bird of shy and retired habits, frequenting the outskirts of woods, or extensive pastures, where it feeds upon lives chiefly upon the berries of the misletoe and worms and other insects. During the winter, it juniper, with those of the hawthorn, holly, and ivy. It possesses a very powerful note, and, in case of mild weather, its song is often heard as early as the month of January. It usually sings from the highest its mate during the time of incubation, but becomes branch of some tall tree, continuing daily to serenade silent as soon as the young birds are hatched. It is very courageous in the breeding season, attacking indiscriminately all other birds that approach its nest. When disturbed, or engaged in contest, it utters a harsh kind of scream. It seldom mingles with the other species of thrushes, but more frequently associates in small families during the winter, and which resort to extensive pasture and meadow lands. The place chosen for nidification is commonly the cleft of a tree, and the nest is formed externally of white moss and coarse grass, interwoven with wool, the whole being lined with the fine stalks of dead grasses. In this depository it lays four or five | to the brim of the cup, where a thicker band of the eggs, of a greenish-white, spotted, and speckled with same materials is hooped round like the mouth of a chestnut-brown and clove-brown. basket. The rounded form of this framework is produced by the bird measuring it, at every step of the process, with its body, particularly the part extending from the thigh to the chin; and when any of the straws or other materials will not readily conform to this gauge, they are carefully glued into their proper place by means of saliva,-a circumstance which may be seen in many parts of the same nest if carefully examined. When the shell, or frame, as it may be called, is completed in this manner, the bird begins the interior masonry by spreading pellets of horse or cow dung on the basket work of moss and straw, beginning at the bottom, which is intended to be the thickest, and proceeding gradually from the central point. This material, however, is too dry to adhere of itself with sufficient firmness to the moss, and on this account it is always laid on with the saliva of the bird as a cement; yet it must require no little patience in the little architect to lay it on so very smoothly, with no other implement besides its narrow pointed bill. It would indeed puzzle any of our best workmen to work so uniformly smooth with such a tool; but from the frame being nicely prepared, and by using only small pellets at a the bill, the work is rendered somewhat easier. This wall being finished, the birds employ for the inner coating little short slips of rotten wood, chiefly that of the willow; and these are firmly glued on with the same salivary cement, while they are bruised flat at the same time, so as to correspond with the The field-fare. The summer retreat, or polar migration of the field-fare being farther towards the north than the utmost latitude of our island, it becomes a periodical visitant with us, as a return to warmer latitudes on the approach of autumn, or after it has performed the duties attendant on the propagation of its species. Of all our winter visitants, it is the latest in its arrival, seldom reaching these shores before the latter part of November. As its first appearance is so much later than that of its fellows in migration, so also is its departure in the spring; flocks of these birds remaining on our coasts as late as the latter part of May, or the first week of June. During its abode with us, it continues in large flocks, and, as long as the weather remains mild, frequents the meadow and pasture grounds, feeding upon slugs, worms, and the larvae of insects. In severe frosts, and when the ground is covered with snow, it resorts to the hedges, and to small plantations, where it subsists upon the berries of the hawthorn, holly, mountain-ash, and some others, It is a bird of shy disposition, and, unless pressed by hunger, and reduced by want, will not allow of any near approach to it. Highly as the flesh of the field-time, which are spread out with the upper part of fare was prized by the Romans, it does not exceed in flavour that of the misletoe thrush, and the others of its tribe, possessing also a bitterness from which some of them are free. This bird builds in pine or fir trees, in Norway, Sweden, Lapland, and other Northern countries, laying from three to five eggs, of a pale bluish-green colour, spotted with reddish-smoothness of the surface over which they are laid. brown. This final coating, however, is seldom extended so high as the first, and neither of them are carried quite to the brim of the nest, the birds thinking it enough to bring their masonry near to the twisted band of grass, which forms the mouth. The whole wall, when finished, is not much thicker than pasteboard, and though hard, tough, and water-tight, is more warm and comfortable than at first view might appear, and admirably calculated for protecting the eggs or young from the bleak winds which prevail in the early part of the spring, when the songthrush breeds. The song-thrush or mavis, whose sweetly variable notes enliven our groves, from the commencement of spring to the close of summer, is indigenous in Britain, as the greater part of those bred in the island remain stationary through the whole year. But these our native birds are augmented by the visits of vast flocks, in the course of their autumnal journey from the more northren countries of Europe. These last generally make their appearance before the red-wing and field-fare, and, after recruiting their strength for a few days, move onward in a southerly direction. Like many of our other au- The song-thrush usually builds in a thick bush, tumnal visitants, they arrive with a north, or north-hawthorn, holly, silver-fir, furze, ivied tree, or someeast wind, plainly indicating the countries from times in a dead fence, where the grass grows high; whence they hold their progress. The thrushes but it has occasionally been known to nestle within which remain with us, never associate in flocks out-buildings. One is mentioned in the Magazine during the winter, like the two above-mentioned of Natural History,' as having been built upon a species, but continue dispersed throughout the coun- harrow. A mill-wright" had been making a threshtry, haunting the thickets and hedges, where they ing-machine for a farmer in the neighbourhood of find a supply of such berries as form their principal Pitlessie, in Fife, and had three of his men along food, during the inclement season of the year. Upon with him. They wrought in a cart-shed, which the approach of very severe frosts, or falls of snow, they had used for some time as their workshop; and they move from the interior of the country towards one morning they observed a mavis (thrush) enter the sea-coast, where the influence of the sea-breeze, the wide door of the shed, over their heads, and fly soon dissolving the snow, exposes a portion of ground out again after a short while; and this she did two sufficient to furnish them with a scanty subsistence. or three times, until their curiosity was excited to If the season should prove temperate, the male bird watch the motions of the birds more narrowly; for begins to pour forth his love-notes as early as the they began to suspect that the male and female were latter part of January, or the beginning of the month both implicated in this issue and entry. Upon the following. In March the pair commence nidification, joists of the shed were placed along with some timber and the first brood flies about the month of May. for agricultural purposes and old implements, two small harrows, used for grass-seeds, laid one above the other; and they were soon aware that their new companions were employed with all the diligence of their kind in making their nest in this singular situa tion. They had built it, he said, between one of the butts of the harrow and the adjoining tooth; and by that time, about seven o'clock, and an hour after he and his lads had commenced their work, the birds had made such progress, that they must have begun by the break of day. Of course, he did not fail to remark the future proceedings of his new friends The song-thrush is remarkable for the ingenuity of its nests. The interior of these nests is about the form and size of a large breakfast tea-cup, being as uniformly rounded, and though not polished, almost as smooth. For this little cup the parent birds lay a massive foundation of moss, chiefly the proliferous and the fern-leaved feather moss or any other which is sufficiently tufted. As the structure advances, the tufts of moss are brought into a rounded wall by means of grass stems, wheat-straw, or root, which are twined with it and with one another up Their activity was incessant; and he noticed that they began to carry mortar (he said), which he and his companions well knew was for plastering the inside. Late in the same afternoon, and at six o'clock next morning, when the lads and he entered the shed, the first thing they did was to look at the mavis's nest, which they were surprised to find occupied by one of the birds, while the other plied its unwearied toil. At last the sitting bird, or hen, as they now called her, left the nest likewise; and he ordered one of the apprentices to climb the baulks, who called out that she had laid an egg; and this she had been compelled to do some time before the nest was finished; only plastering the bottom, which could not have been done so well afterwards. When all was finished, the cock took his share in the hatching; but he did not sit so long as the hen, and he often fed her while she was upon the nest. In thirteen days the young birds were out of the shells, which the old ones always carried off." "Thrushes," says Jesse, "feed very much on snails, looking for them in mossy banks. Having frequently observed some broken snail-shells near two projecting pebbles on a gravel walk, which had a hollow between them, I endeavoured to discover the occasion of their being brought to that situation. At last I saw a thrush fly to the spot with a snail shell in his mouth, which he placed between the two stones and hammered at it with his beak till he had broken it, and was then able to feed on its contents. The bird must have discovered that he could not apply his beak with sufficient force to break the shell while it was rolling about, and he therefore found out and made use of the spot which would keep the shell in one position." Grahame, in his Birds of Scotland,' gives, as usual, a very exact account of the localities chosen by the song-thrush, though he is wrong in thinking the nest lined with loam. "In the hazel bush or sloe is formed And richly crowns, with clustered fruit of spring, A pebble chiding stream, the loam-lined house Is fixed, well hid from ken of hovering hawk, Or lurking beast, or school-boy's prowling eye." Syme, on the other hand, says, the thrush "dis. plays little ingenuity in concealing its nest; it is therefore easily found, and hence becomes an easy prey to boys, cats, and weasels. Both male and female are employed in constructing the nest, which is placed in a hedge or bush pretty near the ground. We have found them in hedges, thorn bushes, and amongst the under branches of spruce and silver firs. These last conceal it, for the branches must be lifted up or put aside before the nest can be discovered; but in hedges it is easily seen, as instinct compels the bird to build so early in spring, that the foliage has not time to conceal it." The red-wing, like the field-fare, is a periodical visitant, and generally makes its appearance a few weeks prior to that bird, arriving upon our northeastern coasts about the middle or latter part of October. During its residence here, it remains gregarious, and haunts the meadows and pastures, as long as open weather continues; on the approach of frost, repairing to woods and hedges, where the hawthorn, holly, and some other trees afford, by their berries, the necessary means of subsistence. Should the weather prove very severe, or a failure of food occur, they continue their migration southward, an instance of which happened in the winter of 1822. In the first storm of snow, which lasted for nearly three weeks, large flocks of field-fares and redwings were collected about the hedges, and on the outskirts of woods, where they lived upon the berries of the hawthorn, and which fortunately for them, were in great abundance. This supply, however, rapidly decreased; but before its total failure, a few days of thaw intervened previous to the commencement of the second severe storm. Taking advantage of this change of weather, they were enabled to pursue a more extended southern migration, and scarcely an individual was afterwards seen in Northumberland. Montague mentions, that, in the hard winter of 1799, vast numbers of these birds resorted to the west of England, where a sudden fall of snow deprived them of all food, and being previously too much reduced for farther travel to a warmer climate, thousands of them, as well as of field-fares, perished from starvation. The same accident occurred in the year 1814, the winter of which proved particularly fatal to the thrush tribe, to larks, and other small birds, as was evinced in the striking diminution of their numbers for some years afterwards. The habits of this bird are very similar to those of the other species. It has a clear and melodious note, and its song, when in its native or summer residence, is said to be scarcely inferior to that of our common thrush. Upon the approach of spring it returns to the northern provinces of Europe, where it breeds, and passes the summer. It is very abundant in Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Russia.-In these countries it inhabits the woods and thickets adjoining to low or marshy tracts, and builds in maple, birch, and other trees, laying from four to six eggs, of a bluishgreen colour, marked with blackish-brown spots.In addition to fruits and berries, it feeds upon insects and worms. The Blackbird is well known as a native of the British Islands. It is of a shy and restless disposition, always anxious to escape from observation, and generally successful in that effort, as it hops with singular celerity through the closest hedges or thickets, and its presence is often only known by the note it utters on alarm. It never associates ostensibly, preferring a solitary life, which it passes in woods or in well enclosed situations, where the hedges afford it an abundant supply of provision for the winter. It also feeds upon worms and insects, and like the thrush, is particularly fond of the helix nemoralis, to obtain the snail of which it pursues the same process as that bird. The notes of the blackbird are rich and full, but destitute of that varied power of melody which distinguishes the song of the common thrush.-It commences building its nest in March, or the beginning of April; and a thick bush or an ivy-clad tree, is usually the chosen situation. The nest is composed of moss, small sticks, and fibres of root, plastered with mud internally, and afterwards lined with fine dry grass. Here it deposits four or five eggs of a bluish-green colour. blotched with darker variegations. Like the thrush, it is frequently kept in confinement, and may be taught to whistle a variety of tunes, as well as to imitate the human voice. The periodical visits of the ring-ouzel to our coasts are contrary to others of this genus that migrate, viz. the field-fare, redwing, and common thrush; as it arrives in the spring, and immediately resorts to the mountainous districts of England and Scotland, preferring those of the most stony and barren nature. In these situations it breeds, and rears its young.The nest is usually placed on some steep bank, supported by a projecting stunted bush, or a tuft of grass or heath: sometimes also in the cleft, or on the shelf of a rock. In form and texture it resembles that of the blackbird, and the eggs are very similar to those of the same bird both in size and colour.Its song, which it utters perched on the top of some stone or the summit of a rock, is confined to a few clear and powerful notes, not unlike those of the |