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 mistle thrush is much larger, paler and longer-tailed than the sympatric song thrush. In the western Himalayas it could be confused with both the plain-backed and the long-tailed thrushes. These are similar to the mistle thrush, but the plain–backed thrush lacks obvious wing bars, is more rufous above than its relative, and is barred rather than spotted below. The long-tailed thrush has olive-toned upperparts, bars on its breast and two wing bars. Juvenile mistle thrushes are superficially similar to White's thrush, but that species has golden-yellow plumage, scalloped underparts and a distinctive underwing pattern. The male mistle thrush has a