Turdus solitarius, LINNÆUS; Le Merle solitaire, BUFFON; Die
Einsame Drossel, BECHSTEIN.
This bird is eight inches and a half long, three of which belong to the
tail. The beak is an inch and a quarter long, rather crooked at the
point, dark brown without, and yellowish within; the iris is orange. The
feet are thirteen lines high, and brown. The whole plumage is brown
studded with little white spots, with a faint tint of blue on the sides
of the head, the throat, under the body, on the breast and coverts of
the wings; the rump is brown without spots, and the tail blackish.
The female differs from the male in having the little spots of a dirty
yellow, and more numerous on the breast than elsewhere, and in being
destitute of the blue tint; and finally, in having the pen-feathers and
the tail-feathers simply brown.
HABITATION.--When wild it seldom quits the mountains in the south of
Europe; in spring, however, it advances as far as Burgundy, and
returns in the end of August; it arrives, in the month of April, at
the spot where it generally passes the summer, and returns constantly
every year to the place where it first took up its abode. Two pairs
are seldom found in the same district. Except in the pairing season
it is a solitary bird.
In confinement it is furnished with a cage like that of the
blackbird.
FOOD.--When wild it feeds on insects, berries, and grapes.
In confinement it is treated like the song thrush, adding ants' eggs
and meal-worms.
BREEDING.--The nest, made of blades of grass and feathers, is
generally placed at the top of a solitary chimney, or on the summit
of an old castle, or on the top of a large tree, generally near a
steeple or high tower. The female lays five or six eggs. The young
ones, if taken from the nest soon enough, are capable of instruction;
the flexibility of the throat fitting it either for tunes or words.
They sing also by candle-light in the night. If treated with care
they live in confinement eight or ten years. From the summit of a
high tower or steeple the male utters for whole days the most
beautiful and pathetic song, accompanying it by flapping his wings,
moving his tail, and elevating the feathers of his head.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--His beautiful voice is in great repute in all
the countries he inhabits; it is, indeed, very sweet and flute-like;
his song, though musical, is somewhat melancholy, as is usual with
solitary birds; many persons, however, are very fond of it. This
bird, when tamed, fetches a very high price at Milan, Constantinople,
&c. In some countries it is so much respected that it is considered
sacrilegious to kill it or destroy its nest.