The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycatchers.

Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds that inhabit wooded areas and often feed on the ground.

Seeds of grasses, spores of algae, and the eggs of molluscs and other invertebrates commonly establish in remote areas after long journeys of this sort.

The Turdidae have a great ecological importance because some populations migrate long distances and disperse the seeds of endangered plant species at new sites, helping to eliminate inbreeding and increasing the genetic diversity of local flora.

At the time of the publication of the third edition of Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World in 2003, the genera Myophonus, Alethe, Brachypteryx and Heinrichia were included in Turdidae.

[7][8] The family contains 191 species, which are divided into 17 genera:[9] The thrush is one of the many kinds of small bird that have in the past been trapped and eaten in much of Europe; the practice is now rare.

[11] Among traditional ways of cooking thrush were with polenta or grilled on a skewer, in Italy; with juniper berries in Belgium; and made into a pâté or terrine.