PASSERES. ( 8 ) TURD I DM. 



THE MISSEL THRUSH. 



MISTLETOE THRUSH, MISTLE THRUSH, GREY THRUSH, SCREECH 

 THRUSH, SCREAMING MAVIS, THROSTLE COCK, STORM COCK. 



Turdus viscivorus. 

 W^z jfeltie, Wqz Biq: Slpatji^, Wqz ifeltiaeer. 



IVhile thou ! the leader of the band, 

 Fearless salut'st the opeiting year. 

 Nor stay st till blow the breezes blatul, 

 That bid the tender leaves appear ; 

 But on sane towering elm or pine. 

 Waving aloft thy dauntless wing. 

 Thou joy'st thy love-notes wild to sing, 

 Impatient of St. Valetitine ! 



C. Smith, To the Missel Thrush. 



In the early years of this century the Missel Thrush seems 

 to have been rarely seen in Berwickshire. Dr. Thomson, 

 who drew up his report on the parish of Eccles for the 

 New Statistical Account of Scotland in 1834,-^ says that it was 

 very uncommon in that parish initil within the three pre- 

 vious years ; and Mr. John Wilson, late of Edington Mains, 

 records that it was very scarce in his boyhood."' Writing on 

 the 29th of May 1837, Mr. Hardy, Oldcambus, mentions it as 

 a new settler in that neighbourhood, and, in 1845, he noted 

 it as being found in Buncle Woods.^ Dr. Stuart, Chirnside, 

 states that it was seldom observed when he came to reside 



1 Neio Statistical Account of ScotlanJ, vol. ii., Berwickshire, p. 53. 

 ^ Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, voL vi. p. 399. 

 » Mr. Hardy's MS. Notes. 



