268 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



colour at the ends. Young birds after their autumn moult 

 may be told by their having somewhat larger buff tips to the 

 median wing-coverts. 



Kange in Great Britain. Generally distributed throughout the 

 British Islands, and gradually increasing its range northwards 

 in Scotland and the islands, in districts where it was at one 

 time quite unknown. It is only met with as a straggler in the 

 Orkneys, and has not yet been recorded from the Shetlands. 

 A considerable migration to our eastern coasts takes place in 

 the autumn. 



Range outside the British Islands. Found almost everywhere 

 in Europe, extending in Scandinavia up to the Arctic Circle, 

 and in Siberia it reaches Lake Baikal. In Central Asia and 

 the Himalayas the Mistle-Thrushes are somewhat larger and 

 paler in colour, and have been separated as Turdus hodgsoni^ 

 but Mr. Seebohm states that examples from Asia Minor are 

 intermediate between the western and eastern birds. The 

 Mistle-Thrush breeds in the Himalayas at a height of from 

 9,000 or 10,000 feet, descending to the lower valleys in winter, 

 at which season of the year the bird visits Southern Persia and 

 also migrates to Southern Europe and Northern Africa. 



Habits. It is not only the larger size of the present species 

 which makes it a conspicuous object in this country, but the 

 wilder and bolder manners of the bird at once direct atten- 

 tion to it. Excepting during the breeding season, the Mistle- 

 Thrush is a very shy and wary bird, and is only to be observed 

 in open country, never frequenting hedge-rows like the Black- 

 bird or Song-Thrush. Its favourite haunts are parks, especially 

 when there is plenty of pasture-land attached, while in the 

 north it affects the pine-woods more particularly. It is a very 

 early breeder, often building its nest in February and the 

 early part of March, before any leaves are on the trees, but 

 owing to its quiet and retiring manners, the nesting does not 

 attract much attention. Family parties of Mistle-Thrushes, 

 consisting of old and young birds, are often to be seen in the 

 pastures during the autumn and winter, but the birds keep 

 well out of danger, and fly off on the smallest alarm, their 

 white axillaries being very conspicuous as they take wing, one 

 after another. Notwithstanding the large size and bold nature 



