Missel Thrush 279 



atrocious game laws, with a heart palpitating between 

 joy and apprehension I approached within ten paces of 

 the dastardly bird, and nicely adjusting my pistol, killed 

 him. Immediately burying my weapon, and concealing 

 the eagle among some branches, I quitted the place, 

 looking eagerly around me with no little apprehension, 

 as every man whom I saw moving about the plain seemed 

 to me to wear a keeper's uniform. I bore off my prize, 

 and gained my dwelling without detection, where proud 

 of my acquisition, I invited all my friends to be witnesses 

 of my triumph." 



The habits of the missel thrush appear to vary accord- 

 ing to circumstances , for Temminck informs us it prefers 

 black forests situated upon mountains ; while, in England; 

 another tells us it keeps to open fields and commons; 

 heaths, and unfrequented places, being of a wild and 

 wary nature, and only approaches our plantations and 

 shrubberies in severe weather, and in breeding time. 



