140 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



builds its nest in bushes, or on the side of 

 some tree, as all of this kind are found to do, 

 and lays four or five eggs in the season. Its 

 song is very fine, which it begins in spring, 



setting in of spring, and places it on large trees, but 

 more generally on those of a middling height. She 

 constructs it in the bifurcations of the principal branches, 

 employs moss, leaves, and large weeds outside, cemented 

 with earth, and carpets the nest with fine plants within, 

 horsehair, and wool, and covers the exterior very art- 

 fully with moss like that which grows on the tree itself. 

 She seldom lays more than four eggs, of obscure white, 

 spotted with brown, and the male partakes the incuba- 

 tion. They feed the young ones with caterpillars, 

 small worms, slugs, aud snails, whose shells they break. 

 A second brood is generally hatched after the first, and 

 when both are ended the families unite, and add to the 

 aliments just mentioned various kinds of berries, 

 cherries, grapes, and other fruits. In winter they feed 

 on flax-seed, hops, ivyberries, buckthorn, and particu- 

 larly mistletoe ; from which our name of missel-thrush 

 is given to them. In Burgundy they are called Draines, 

 from a peculiar cry which they continually repeat, either 

 as a rallying or a warning signal, and which has some 

 fancied resemblance to this word. Montbeillard tells us 

 that the missel-thrushes are very pacific in their man- 

 ners; but Le Vaillant, with more appearance of truth, 

 declares that his observation is without foundation. 

 They are, in fact, of a quarrelsome nature, and often 

 fight either for food or the choice of a companion. The 

 males are more numerous than the females, and it is not 

 rare to see two or three of them disputing so bitterly, 

 ttmt they forget their natural distrust, and suffer them- 

 selves to be approached very closely. The combat does 

 not cease until the most feeble have abandoned both the 

 object of their quarrel, and the district which she in- 

 habits. Those which establish themselves in orchards 

 prove very vigilant sentinels for our poultry, which they 

 always warn of the approach of birds of prey. They 

 seek to take under their protection all the little birds 

 which nestle in the same quarter with themselves. If 

 a kestrel, a hawk, a crow, or a jay should appear ia the 

 neighbourhood, the male directly announces its presence 

 by a cry of uneasiness; the female joins him, and on 

 their united cries, repeated with every tone and accent 

 of anger, an entire cohort of little birds, especially 

 finches, join with them in pursuit of the common enemy, 

 and succeed in terrifying him, and obliging him to take 

 to flight before his feeble adversaries. 



The missels are very distrustful, much more so than 

 the blackbirds. It is very difficult to surprise them, 

 except at hatching time ; then they can be approached 

 more easily: they are so much absorbed in the care of 

 incubation, that they will allow themselves sometimes 

 to be taken on the nest. They generally escape all 

 kinds of snares, and can never be caught with the bird- 

 call. They are sometimes observed to join with the 

 finches in insulting the howlers, which daylight has 

 surprised out of their retreat. The missel may be some- 

 times taken by the noose, but not so frequently as the 

 song-thrush and the redwing. Their flesh is not so 

 much in estimation as that of other thrushes, at least 

 in our more northern climates, which is attributable 

 to the sort of aliment on which they subsist. When 

 they live on grapes, olives, and other succulent fruits, its 

 flavour must be equal to that of the flesh of the others ; 

 but hips, flax-seed, and berries in general, which are 

 deficient in nutritive qualities, impart to it a disagree- 

 able taste, and cannot produce the delicate fat which 

 renders the other thrushes so highly esteemed in some 

 places as an article of game. These birds must be taken 

 in the nest, when they are first covered with feathers, 

 if they are meant to be tamed. Crumbs of bread steeped 



sitting on the summit of a high tree. It is 

 the largest bird of all the feathered tribe that 

 has music in its voice ; the note of all greater 

 birds being either screaming, chattering, or 



in water, and the yolks of eggs, constitute a proper food 

 for them at this season ; when they will eat of their own 

 accord they may have worms, snails, berries of various 

 kinds, and minced apples. 



The Fieldfare of Canada is a well-tempered and 

 familiar bird. Its song is more varied and melodious 



than that of the missel, and has equal compass; its 

 throat is more flexible; it is heard to utter the short 

 interrupted cry of our blackbird, which it accompanies 

 with a gnashing of the beak, a vertical motion of the 

 tail, and slight tremor of the wings. It generally places 

 its nest on trees of middling size, and composes it of 

 small roots and dried herbs, bound together with a 

 cement of clay. This nest perfectly resembles that of 

 our song-thrush ; the eggs are four or five in number, 

 of a clear blue, varied with obscure spots. 



The fieldfares come among us from the north of 

 Europe, in November and December. They delight in 

 fallow-lands, in places where flax-seed is found. To- 

 wards the end of winter they prefer humid meadows, 

 and do not frequent woods, except to pass the night 

 there. During this entire season they live in society, 

 travel together, and remain all the winter without 

 separating, perch all on the same or the most neighbour- 

 ing trees ; it is not rare to see them assembled to the 

 number of two or three thousand, in places where the 

 lotus grows, the fruit of which they eat with avidity. 

 The fieldfares also subsist on slugs and worms, which 

 they are observed to pursue eagerly after rain in humid 

 soils, or grounds newly ploughed. When these aliments 

 are wanting, they eat mistletoe, and various berries, 

 among which are those of the whitethorn. They dis- 

 appear in spring, but a few remain to the end of April. 

 Then they are found in pairs, as this is the coupling 

 time. The male is easily^distinguished at this epoch 

 from the female; the gray of his head and neck assumes 

 a bluish tint, tolerably brilliant; the beak is of a fine 

 yellow, and its extremity of a decided black. These 

 couples may be sometimes observed, after a long winter, 

 on the borders of thickets, far remote from habitations, 

 but they are seen no longer when May sets in. Those 

 fieldfares which are late go then to rejoin their com- 

 panions, and pass the summer in the north, where they 

 hatch their young. We can affirm nothing respecting 

 the song of these birds, as we do not see them during 

 the love season. The male and female with us utter 

 the same cries, whether for warning or rallying. It is 

 said that in Poland and Lower Austria, and Linnjeus 

 and Meyer add in Sweden, they nestle on high trees, 

 and lay four or six eggs, of a sea-green, pointed with 

 reddish-brown. M. Vieillot says they never nestle in 

 our climates. This may be true of France, but Dr 

 Latham mentions an instance or two of the fieldfare's 

 nest being found in this country. Their flesh is not so 



