Cassell's book of birds; vol. 2Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Science
Cassell's book of birds; vol. 2
Brehm, Alfred Edmund
Birds
of their forms and the freshness of their plumage, we pronounced them to
be birds of the preceding summer. There was an association of friendship
between them that called attention to their actions. One of them seemed
ailing or feeble from some bodily accident, for, though it hopped about,
it appeared unable to obtain a sufficiency of food. Its companion, an
active, sprightly Thrush, would frequently bring it worms or bruised
snails, when they mutually partook of the banquet; the ailing bird would
then wait patiently, understand the actions, and expect the assistance of
the other, and advance from his asylum on its approach. This procedure
was continued for some days, but after a time we missed the fostered
invalid, which probably died, or, by reason of its weakness, met with
some fatal accident." (The egg of the Song Thrush is shown in Fig. 14,
Coloured Plate XVI.)
THE FIELDFARE, OR JUNIPER THRUSH.
The FIELDFARE, or JUNIPER THRUSH (_Turdus pilaris_), is ten inches long
and sixteen and a half broad; the wing measures five and a half and
the tail about four inches. The plumage of this species is unusually
variegated: the head, nape, and rump are deep grey; the upper part of
the back and region of the shoulder dull chestnut-brown; the quills and
tail-feathers black, the former and the feathers of the wing-covers being
grey upon the outer web and tip; the exterior tail-feathers are bordered
with white; the front of the throat is dark reddish yellow, spotted
longitudinally with black; the feathers on the breast are brown, with
a whitish edge; the rest of the under side is quite white; the eye is
brown, the beak yellow, and the foot dark brown. The female is somewhat
paler than her mate.
[Illustration: THE SONG THRUSH (_Turdus musicus_).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account