THRUSH. The tbrushes are birds of the family Merulidx, which Dr. Jerdon arranges into wrens, short wings, ground thrushes, whistling thrushes, short-legged thrushes, babbling thrushes, true thrushes; and' wren thrushes. The blue rock thruSh, Petrocinda cyanea (P. pandoo, Col. Sykes), is distributed over S.E. Europe and the temperate and torrid parts of Asia. By some it is suppexted to be the bird alluded to in Scripture, the sparrow that sitteth alone upon the house-top.' P. longiroatris, a long-billed variety, ix common among the rocks of tho NAY. Himalayas. It would seem that this is a pernutnent race of P. cyanea, and peculiar to the more northern regime. All Dr. Adams procured in Ladakh and Kaahmir belonged to thia variety. The bill blackbird or blue water-thrush (Mymphonus Ternminckii) is ono of the most beautiful and common tenauta of the Himalayan streams. It builds its nest on the cliff over the rnountain torrent. During incuba tion the male may be seen sallying forth, sporting from cliff to cliff ; his melodious note, Bounding sweetly among the roariness of the troubled waters, has a resemblance to that of the blackbird, but is softer. The blue of the body is more intause on
the breast, and forma a gaudy halo across the forehead.
The pagoda thrush, Acridotheres pagadarum, is probably the bird referred to in Lalla Mecca's blue sacred pigeon, and the thrush Of Hindustan, whose holy warbling: gush At evening from tho tall pagoda's top.
The inissel thrush, Turdus viscivorus, perforrns an up-and-down migration on the western ranges of the Himalayas, being found at high elevations in summer, and in the more sheltered situations of the valleys during winter. The black-throated thrush (Turdus atrogularis) is generally distributed over the woods and cultivated tracts of these ranges. The black throat is wanting in Rome varieties, and there are several well-marked similar ities to what has been called the red-necked thrush (Turdus rufieollis), which Mr. Ilodgson considers a distinct species.--Adanis' Sportsman in India ; ,Terdon. See Birds, p. 377.