BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 413 



THICKNEE. See CURLEW, STONE. 



THRUSH, COMMON. See THRUSH, SONG. 



THRUSH, MISSEL. Also MISTLETOE THRUSH. 



(Tiirdus visctvorus.) 

 Order PASSERES ; Family TURDID^: (THRUSE1ES). 



Description of Parent 

 Birds. Length about 

 eleven inches ; bill mode- 

 rately long, slightly curved 

 downwards, and dark 

 brown, with a yellowish 

 tinge at the base of the 

 lower mandible. Irides 

 hazel. Top of the head, 

 nape, and back,light brown; 



rump yellowish - brown ; wings dark brown, the 

 coverts being tipped and the quills edged with wood- 

 brown ; the tail is darkish brown, the outside 

 feathers edged and tipped with greyish-white ; 

 cheeks, chin, throat, breast, and under-parts straw 

 colour or yellowish-white, lightest on the belly and 

 vent ; the throat and breast are marked with 

 triangular spots of blackish-brown, and the belly 

 with roundish ones of the same colour ; legs and 

 toes light brown ; claws brownish-black. 



The female is similar to the male. Easily dis- 

 tinguished from Song Thrush by its larger size, 

 greyer colour of the back, and the fact that the 

 bird conspicuously shows a white quill on either side 

 of the tail when flying away from the observer. 



