NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 149 
in number, are laid early in the season, sometimes in March, and are 
greenish-blue, usually blotched with black or purplish-brown, but are 
sometimes unspotted. ‘Two or three broods are reared im a season. 
Suffolk, May. 
Presented by T. Harcourt-Powell, Esq. 
No. 35. MISTLE-THRUSH. (Turdus viscivorus.) 
A yesident species, often called the “ Storm-cock,” from its habit of 
singing during the roughest weather, and common throughout the 
British Islands, where it breeds very early in the year. It feeds on fruits 
of various kinds, snails, worms, and insects, being especially partial to 
the berries of the yew, holly, mountain-ash, and mistletoe, etc., from 
the last of which its trivial name is derived. The somewhat untidily 
finished nest is generally conspicuously placed in the fork of a tree at 
some distance from the ground, and composed of bents and lichens, 
lined with dry grass, placed on a foundation of mud. The eggs, four 
or five in number, are sometimes laid as early as February, and the 
ground-colour is greenish- or tawny-white, blotched with reddish-brown 
and lilac. ‘Two broods are often reared in a season. 
Norfolk, May. 
Presented by Lord Walsingham. 
No. 36. WHITE’S THRUSH. (Geocichla varia.) 
A native of Northern Asia, ranging from Central Siberia to China 
and Japan, where it breeds. It is an accidental visitor to Great Britain 
and Ireland, as well as to the north of Europe. 
Japan, May. 
Presented by Heatley Noble, Esq. 
No. 37. DIPPER or WATER-OUZEL. 
(Cinclus aquaticus. ) 
The resident species is found throughout the more hilly parts of the 
British Islands wherever there are rapidly flowing streams. Tt swims 
and dives with equal facility, and may sometimes be seen walking below 
the surface of the water on the bottom of a pool, searching for the insects 
on which it feeds. The nest, an oval ball of moss, leaves, ete., with an 
entrance in the side, is always piaced close to the water’s edge, in some 
