140 WHY CALLED THE STORM COCK. 



The Missel Thrush being found chiefly in those wooded and shel- 

 tered places where the winter is neither the longest nor the most 

 severe, and meeting with berries at the times when the snow keeps it 

 from the ground, is much better fed at that season than many of 

 the other birds. In ordinary seasons, indeed, it is never very long 

 without animal food, because it is very persevering and very adroit 

 in finding snails and slugs in their winter retreats ; so that it is 

 among the first birds to feel the turn of the year, and though its 

 note is not so mellifluous and varied as that of the Song Thrush, it is 

 still both powerful and musical; and as it is the first that is heard 

 in the woodland after the howling of the wind among the leafless 

 branches, and heard even during the fitful pauses of that, when the 

 February or even the January sun flings a momentary ray of hope 

 upon the doubtful year, it is perhaps hailed with more fondness than 

 the song of the Nightingale itself, which is never heard till the 

 season has so far budded and bloomed as to be full of life and hope 

 without the Nightingale. 



Perched upon some leafless tree, and haply near a branch of that 

 mistletoe which has been a bone of contention between the bird and 

 the rustics the one for his Christmas dinner, and the other for his 

 Christmas sport the Missel Thrush shakes the surrounding air with 

 his melody ; and while we listen to the strain, we feel that the 

 promise of nature's bounty for another year is announced at the 

 very time when we have been sharing most plentifully the fruits of 

 the year which has gone by. For some time the song of the bird alter- 

 nates with those varying winds which at that season shake the earth, 

 and sometimes uproot the trees, though they also mollify the clods. 

 When the black cloud comes over, and the sleet pelts, or the snow 

 drives, the bird glides down to his shelter ; but as soon as it is over, 

 he is again on his perch and at his song, nor does he cease till other 

 choristers have come to bear their part in that morning song with 

 which the children of nature welcome in the year. 



We see here the reason why this bird is called the Storm 

 Cock. It begins to sing at so early a period of the year, 

 that it is particularly liable to be overtaken by gloom and 

 sleety showers, which it does not appear to heed, but sings 

 on, despite of adverse circumstances, like one that puts his 

 trust in God, and feels more under the protection of an 

 Almighty arm. The following sonnet, by i Virginia,' from 

 * Hood's Magazine,' well expresses the feeling with which 

 we should hear its inspiriting lay : 



Oh, how I love to listen to thy song, 

 Sweet bird, that, earliest of the choral throng, 

 Pourest thy notes of gratitude and glee 

 Ere blooms a flowret forth, or buds a tree ; 



