CICHLOSELYS SIBIRICUS.

Siberian Thrush.

Turdus sibiricus, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 815.

—— leucocillus, Pall. Faun. Ross., tom. i. p. 450.
auroreus, Pall. Faun. Ross., tom. i. p. 448.
atrocyaneus, Homeyer.

Merula sibirica, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 274.

Oreocinela sibirica, Jaub. Rich. Orn , p- 202.

Cichloselys sibiricus, Bonap. in Parz. Cat. des Ois. d’Europe.

Geocichla, new. sp., Swinh. in This, 1861, p. 37.

Wueruer the earlier British ornithologists were less observant than those of the present day is a question
not easily solved. In all probability they were, and many strange birds visited these isl

ands then as now,
and, after a brief sojourn, departed age

iin to the countries whence they came; yet we do not find any notices
of such occurrences in the works of the earlier writers on our avifauna. However, this may be, certain it is that
very many species have visited us of late years both from the east and the west which do not appear to have
been known in the times of Gilbert White, Montagu, and Bewick. With regard at least to the eastern birds
which have occurred here during the last twenty years, I suspect that very many of them have been induced
by some unwonted cause to wander westward, and that such species as Oreocincla aurea, Merula atrogularis,
Evythrosterna parva, Carpodacus erythrinus, GUsSpisa melanocephala, Emberiza pusilla, EF. rustica, and Syrrhaptes
paradovus have seldom, if ever before, paid occasional visits to the British Islands. Unable at this moment
to refer to the page, I believe I have somewhere stated in my ‘ Birds of Europe,’ published more than thirty
years ago, that a work on the ‘birds of Great Britain could s rarcely be considered complete unless the
whole of the European species were figured therein, inasmuch as one or other of them would certainly occur
in our islands at some time or other; and that the idea was not fallacious is evident by the occurrence of the
species mentioned above, and several others, to which I have now to add the Siberian Thrush, of which avery
fine example, now in the possession of F. Bond, Esq., was shot by a Mr. Drewett at St. Catherine’s Hill,
near Guildford, in Surrey, in the beginning of February 1855, during the Crimean war. This individual,
apparently a female, is faithfully represented in the upper figure of the accompanying plate, the male being
figured from an eastern specimen. After a moment’s reflection, such a visit need not excite surprise, but
might be naturally expected, since there are many instances of the bird’s occurrence in the western parts of
the European continent, as will be seen from the following extract from Dr. Bree’s valuable « Birds of
Kurope not found in the British Islands ’ —

‘This bird is, as its nanie implies, an inhabitant of Siberia; but it has occurred a sufficient number of
times in Europe to merit a place in its avifauna.

‘“We have the authority of Pallas for its occurrence in Southern Russia, of Professor Blasius for its
appearance in Germany; and M. Jaubert, in bis ‘ Richesses Ornithologiques,’ mentions two instances of
its having been captured in France. Homeyer has described it as 7. atrocyaneus upon the authority of a
fine specimen killed in the north of Germany.

“In Dr. Sclater’s excellent paper on the geographical distribution of the genus Turdus (* Ibis,’
1861, p. 278) we find 7. stbiricus in the Palearctic Region, appearing in Siberia, Amoor Land, Japan,
and China; and we have its occurrence in these countries verified by Mr. Swinhoe and other writers.
Dr. Schrenck does not, however, mention it in his ‘ Reisen in Amur-Lande.’

‘* Of its habits and nidification I am unable to say any thing.”

In Mr. Swinhoe’s catalogue of the birds of China, published in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological
Society of London’ for 1863, be describes a male in complete a vanieh ee shot at Ay on the
19th of April, 1861, and remarks :—*‘this is said to be a Ce oomee in Siberia. hy Japan it Probably
breeds, as Captain Blakiston brought young birds from Hakodadi. In the south of China Ke rare,
occurring occasionally during its migrations. It is said to have been procured as far south a: Java.

I have great pleasure in adopting the late Prince Charles te s generic name of Cichloselys fon this
bird, since it will not range with either Merula, Turdus, or Oreocincla, to which latter form, however, it is
most nearly affined.

The figures are of the natural size.