The female is dark brown on the upper part of the body, with edges of whitish gray to the feathers; those of the rump are rust-colour, with the same gray edge; the chin is white; the throat brown; the under part of the neck, and the whole under part of the body, of a dirty orange, with waving lines of brown and white; the tail is paler than that of the male, and the feet are dark brown. HABITATION.--When wild it is found in the south of Europe and Germany, in Austria, and the Tyrol. In France, in Bugey, and more to the south; and especially in the Alps and Pyrenees, frequenting rocks or old ruined castles. In its migrations it visits bare rocky mountains, searching for insects which take refuge among the stones. Its departure is in September and its return in March. In confinement it is furnished with a cage larger than that of the nightingale. FOOD.--When wild it appears to live entirely on insects. In confinement it is fed like the nightingale; but with every care it cannot long be preserved. BREEDING.--The female builds her nest in an almost inaccessible crevice of the rocks, and lays five eggs. As the young are very susceptible of instruction, they are readily brought up when they can be obtained[70]; they are fed and treated like young nightingales. MODE OF TAKING.--It is by fixing to the spots they frequent plenty of limed twigs, with meal-worms attached to them; it is said that in the Alps and Pyrenees they are caught with a bird-call. ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--It is considered one of the most agreeable singers; and if caught young it soon acquires the songs of the other birds of the chamber, learns to whistle tunes, and even, like the starling, to repeat words. "It begins to sing," says Buffon, "a little before dawn, which it announces by noisy sounds. If its cage is approached during the night with a candle, it begins to sing; and when, during the day, it does not sing, it appears to be practising in an under tone, and preparing new songs." THE SOLITARY THRUSH. 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.