58 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
extends round the belly and sides; rest of the 
under parts dull lead-colour; legs, toes and claws 
brown. 
The young birds have the whole of the upper 
parts dull greyish brown; wing-coverts and tertials 
tipped with white; feathers of throat and breast pale 
buff, tipped with brown; rest of under parts grey, 
with darker lines. In this state it has been mis- 
taken for a separate species and called the ‘“‘ Penrith 
Ouzel.” 
The eggs are pear-shaped, and pure white, a little 
smaller than those of the Blackbird. 
MisseL Turusu, T'urdus viscwworus. The Missel 
Thrush, or ‘‘ Holm Screech,” as it is usually called 
in these parts, may be frequently heard, singing 
nearly, if not quite, as well as the Blackbird or 
Thrush, all through the early part of the year, 
especially before mild rainy or stormy weather, 
from which circumstance it has acquired another 
local name, the ‘‘Storm Cock.” It is an early 
breeder, and its nest, being built before the leaves 
are much out, falls an easy prey to the youthful 
birdsnester, in spite of the care with which the bird 
attempts to conceal it by assimilating the outside to 
the colour of the forked branch in which it is usually 
built, the outside being formed of moss of the same 
colour as that growing on the tree, bound together 
with dry grass and covered inside with mud, and 
lined with fine grass. Often such a litter of moss is 
