Song thrush "thrush." Mavis (Μαβής) can also mean "purple" in Greek. A recent molecular study indicates that the song thrush's closest relatives are the similarly plumaged mistle thrush ("T. viscivorus") and Chinese thrush ("T. mupinensis"); these three species are early offshoots from the lineage of "Turdus" thrushes before they diversified and spread across the globe, and hence are less closely related to other European thrush species such as the blackbird ("T. merula"). The song thrush has three subspecies, with the nominate subspecies, "T. p. philomelos", covering the majority of the species' range. "T. p. hebridensis", described by British ornithologist William Eagle Clarke
Song thrush smash snails. The nestlings are mainly fed on animal food such as worms, slugs, snails and insect larvae. The grove Snail ("Cepaea nemoralis") is regularly eaten by the song thrush, and its polymorphic shell patterns have been suggested as evolutionary responses to reduce predation; however, song thrushes may not be the only selective force involved. The song thrush has an extensive range, estimated at 10 million square kilometres (3.8 million square miles), and a large population, with an estimated 40 to 71 million individuals in Europe alone. In the western Palaearctic, there is evidence of population decline, but at a