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.