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
Mistle thrush Chough", by Giovanni da Udine, an artist who worked in Raphael's studio in the 16th century, was a sketch for his "Bird with Garland and Fruit", and this in turn was the basis for a Raphael fresco in the Apostolic Palace. The early Renaissance poem "The Harmony of Birds" features a thrusshe (mistle thrush) singing the phrase "sanctus, sanctus", distinguishing the bird from the song thrush, the "mauys" or "throstle". The song of the mistle thrush is also described in Thomas Hardy's "Darkling Thrush" and Edward Thomas's "The Thrush". The loud call of this common and conspicuous bird also led