TJie Scott is J I Naturalist. 109 



till summoned by the call-note of the leader, when off go the 

 whole troop in search of further discovery. 



31. TuRDUS MUSicus, Linn. (Song Thrush.) 



■ The Song Thrush, which abounds during all the summer 

 months throughout the district, from long observation I fully 

 believe to be migratory, and, though not leaving our islands, that 

 it generally retires during the winter months to warmer spots ; 

 and the same fact has been commented on by Professor Newton, 

 as noticed by him in Norfolk.^ It is curious, therefore, that this 

 should be one of the birds recorded by Mr Geo. Sim as suffering 

 from the effects of cold during the past winter in Aberdeenshire,^ 

 proving the Thrushes of the valleys of the Tay and the Earn 

 to be more provident than those of the Don or the Dee, the 

 former having wisely left for Torquay and other more genial 

 parts of the country early in November before the cold weather 

 set in, and not returning this year until a month later than usual 

 — viz., the 6th of March, on which day they were noted to arrive 

 in considerable numbers both on the banks of the Earn and the 

 Tay. Last year (1878) the day of arrival was the 7th of February, 

 and the year before that the first of that month, being the earliest 

 date I have known them to appear. 



32. TuRDUS viscivoRUS, Linn. (Missel-Thrush.) 



The Missel-Thrush, now so numerous, and one of our greatest 

 pests, robbing us of all our berries, even the very Pyracanthus at 

 the window-side not being safe from his depredations, every 

 berry being cleaned off long before Christmas, was within my 

 own recollection unknown to the district, where now it abounds, 

 or rather did so till this spring, — for though the strongest-look- 

 ing and most robust of all our Thrushes, it seems to be one of the 

 most delicate, as this last severe winter has doubtless proved, 

 for in the space of several miles round I have as yet only ob- 

 served one pair. This, however, may not generally be the case in 

 all parts of the district. With regard to this seeming delicacy 

 in the Missel-Thrush, Mr Gould remarks " that he has known 

 Rooks, Starlings, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Fieldfares, and Redwings 

 to suffer severely in a hard winter, but knows no species to suc- 

 cumb to the rigours of the season so completely as the Missel- 

 Thrushes."^ And yet these birds usually remain with us all 



1 'Ibis,' i860, p. 84. - 'Scot. Nat.,' April 1879, p. 84. 



'^ Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. ii. 



