454 PERCHING BIRDS 



has likewise displayed a marked tendency to extend its range into 

 parts of the northern districts of Scotland and the neighbouring isles 

 where it was previously unknown, although the Shetlands appear still 

 to lie outside its limits, while it is rare in the Orkney group. It is 

 recorded to have bred in the Outer Hebrides in 1906, and perhaps a 

 few years earlier. More remarkable is its history in Ireland, where it 

 appears to have been unknown before the nineteenth century, but is 

 now common, resident, and wideh' distributed. Eastwards its range ex- 

 tends to Lake Baikal, in Siberia, and likewise includes Kashmir and the 

 Himalaj'a, where the song-thrush is unknown. In the autumn, when 

 these birds collect in family parties, probably composed of the two broods 

 and their parents, the number of" British mistle-thrushes is considerably 

 augmented by the arrival of immigrants on the east coast of England. 



In place of hedgerows and coppices, which form the favourite 

 haunts of the song-thrush, the mistle-thrush prefers more open resorts, 

 such as parks and orchards ; and its habit of singing during storm\' 

 weather in the topmost branches of trees has gained for it the name of 

 storm-cock, the song being continued throughout the winter. The 

 nest, generally built in the fork of a tree, is a somewhat rough struc- 

 ture of grass, lichen, moss, and a few twigs, and is lined with mud or 

 clay, inside which is a second lining of fine grass. In Lancashire, 

 however, nests are occasionally built on stone walls. These birds 

 commence to build as early as March, or even the end of Februar}', 

 and lay four or five eggs in a clutch ; the ground-colour of these being 

 usually stone-gre\', or pinkish cream, upon which are spots and blotches 

 of reddish brown, sometimes inclining to blackish, with undcrlj'ing light 

 brown or gre)-ish spots. The name mistle-thrush refers, of course, to 

 the partiality of these birds for the berries of the mistletoe, while the less 

 common title of holm-thrush indicates a similar fondness for those of 

 the holly. Pale-coloured or white examples of the mistle-thrush are 

 occasionally seen. 



_ . . With the redwing {Hylocichla iliaca of some writers) 



(Turdus iliacus) ^^'^ come to the first of two species of spotted thrushes 

 which are normally only winter-visitors to the Ikitish 

 Isles, although a few individuals occasionally linger till late spring or 

 early summer. There is, however, no decisive evidence that cither of 

 them has ever bred in the United Kingdom ; and it will accordingly 

 suffice to say in connection with this part of the subject, that the nests 

 of both are of the same general type as that of the mistle-thrush. 



From the song-thrush, with which it agrees very nearly in size, 



