194 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



alert and wide awake ; it hops for a foot or two, then stops with 

 head bent sideways, keenly examining the ground, dives forwards 

 and drags out a struggling worm. It flies with strong direct 

 flight, spreading its tail, when the spotted tips show clearly ; it 

 is larger, greyer and more distinctly spotted than the Song- 

 Thrush, and when in flight the underside of the wing and 

 axillaries are white, at once distinguishing it from all other 

 thrushes except the Fieldfare, from which it may be told by its 

 yellowish-brown, not blue-grey rump. The song, which may be 

 heard in any month, though infrequently from July to September 

 when it is moulting, is not so mellow as that of the Blackbird, 

 and is more continuous and less varied than the music of the 

 Song-Thrush, but it has force and character and carries well. 

 At times the bird sings as it flies, but the usual flight call is a 

 grating scream or churr ; this harsh note is modified and 

 intensified when excited by alarm or anger. When defending 

 its nest the bird is fearlessly aggressive ; at other times it is a 

 bully — Crockett's " butcher-boy of the woods." I have seen it 

 attack and drive away the Jackdaw, Rook and Kestrel. It will 

 defeat the Sparrow-Hawk and attack man ; I have known one 

 strike the neck of a man who was examining its nest, flying at 

 him with angry screams. The open situation of the nest helps 

 its foes, and Magpies steal the eggs and young ; Mr. C. Oldham 

 witnessed a fierce fight between two Mistle-Thrushes and a Pie 

 which had secured a nestfing ; all four birds fell to the ground 

 in a struggling ball. I have heard one when mobbing a cat 

 punctuate its angry screeches with hoarse croaks, and during 

 the breeding season it has a sharp repeated challenge, chit^ chit, 

 chit, each note of which is accompanied by a jerk of the closed 

 wing and expanded tail. 



The food is varied ; even when insects, worms or molluscs 

 are abundant it cannot resist ripe berries, be they of ivy, yew, 

 hawthorn or mistletoe ; in autumn it raids the hills for rowans 

 and junipers. Like the Song-Thrush, it smashes snails on a 



