ORDER PASSERES 



FAMILY TURDID^ 

 Sub-Family TURDIN^ 



THE MISTLE (OR MISSEL) THRUSH 



TURDUS VISCIVORUS 



I'pper plumage ash brown ; space between the bill and eye greyish white ; 

 wing-coverts edged and tipped with greyish white ; under parts white, 

 faintly tinged here and there with reddish yellow, marked all over with 

 deep brown spots, which on the throat and breast are triangular, in other 

 parts oval, broader on the flanks ; under wing-coverts white ; three 

 lateral tail feathers tipped with greyish white. Length eleven inches ; 

 breadth eighteen inches. Kggs greenish or reddish white spotted with 

 brownish red. Young spotted on the head and back with buff and black. 



The largest British song bird, distinguished from the Song Thrush 

 not only by its superior size, but by having white under wing-coverts, 

 and the whole of the under part of the body buffish-white, 

 spotted with black. It is a generally diffused bird, and is known by 

 various local names ; in the west of England its popular name is 

 Holm Thrush, or Holm Screech, derived most probably, not, as Yarrell 

 surmises, from its resorting to the oak in preference to other trees, 

 but from its feeding on the berries of the holly, or holm ; the title 

 ' Screech ' being given to it from its jarring note when angry or alarm- 

 ed, which closely resembles the noise made by passing the finger-nail 

 rapidly along the teeth of a comb. Its French name, ' Draine ', 

 and German, ' Schnarre', seem to be descriptive of the same harsh 

 ' churr '. In Wales, it has from its quarrelsome habits acquired 

 the name of Penn y llwyn, or, master of the coppice. Another 

 of its names, Throstle Cock, expresses its alliance with the Thrushes, 

 and its daring nature ; and another Storm Cock, indicates ' not 

 that it delights in storms more than in fine weather, but that 

 nature has taught it to pour forth its melody at a time of the year 

 when the bleak winds of winter roar through the leafless trees'. 

 The song of the Mistle Thrush is loud, wild, and musical. Waterton 

 caUs it ' plaintive ', Knapp ' harsh and untuneful '. I must 

 B.B. ' B 



