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
White's thrush striking identification feature in flight is the black band on the white underwings, a feature shared with Siberian thrush. The male has a song which is a loud, far-carrying mechanical whistle, with 5–10 second pauses between each one second long phrase "twee...tuuu...tuuu...tuuu". It was previously considered a subspecies of the scaly thrush. White's thrush White's thrush ("Zoothera aurea") is a member of the thrush family, Turdidae. It was named after the English naturalist Gilbert White. The genus name "Zoothera" comes from the Ancient Greek "zoon", "animal" and "theras", "hunter". The specific "aurea" is from Latin "aureus", "golden". It breeds in