4 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



During short visits to the beach at Dungeness by Mr. 

 Thomas Hepburn in 1900, he says : " On May 10 I found 

 a nest of Ttirdus viscivorns in one of the clumps of elder 

 and holly bushes which are a feature of this stretch of 

 beach. The nest was in the fork of an elder bush not 

 more than three feet above the ground. The outside of 

 the nest was made almost entirely of sheep's wool, with 

 a few sticks entangled in it, and was neatly lined with 

 fine grass. It contained four young birds about a week 

 old. July 16 to 21, noticed considerable numbers of 

 these birds on the grass-lands and meadows which join 

 the beach. They seemed to be mostly young birds." 



In the observations on birds in the neighbourhood 

 of New Komney and Littlestone-on-Sea in 1902, Mr. 

 E. Y. M. Elms writes : May 19, " came across three 

 Missel-Thrushes' nests, all built in most conspicuous 

 positions and easy of access. They were all empty, and, 

 as there were no fragments of egg-shells in any of them, 

 it appeared they must have been pilfered of their con- 

 tents. One nest in particular had an extraordinary 

 amount of sheep's wool in its composition — in fact, the 

 builder evidently was completely nonplussed as how to 

 properly use so large a piece, with the consequence that 

 half of it was blowing about like a small flag — a very 

 advertisement of the nest's whei-eabouts." 



Mr. E. T. Filmer tells us that the Missel-Thrush is 

 " common " about Orlestone, and is plentiful all over 

 the adjoining districts. Captain J. D. Cameron also 

 states that the Missel-Thrush is found in the district 

 of Bethersden. 



