THE MISSEL THRUSH. 191 



In confinement it has a cage like the thrush, unless it is by preference 

 allowed to run about the room. 



Food. — When wild it feeds upon aquatic insects, worms, and even small 

 fish, which it is said to seize by diving. 



In confinement it becomes insensibly accustomed to one of the universal 

 pastes, by at first giving it worms, and the eggs of ants and flies. 



Breeding. — The female lays from four to six eggs in a ratlier large nest, 

 which she places in a crack of the rocks at the edge of tlie water, or in 

 dikes under mill-dams, the wooden gutters of mills, or between the wings 

 of old water-wheels which are not in use. The young may be reared on 

 meal-worms, ants' eggs, and white bread soaked in milk. It is just as 

 well not to take them till they are ready to fly. 



Mode of Taking. — Each pair has a chosen spot, which it seldom leaves : 

 and they are generally seen there either on a trough, a stone, dike, or a 

 bush growing near ; by fixing close to these places limed twigs, to which 

 are fastened worms, which writhe about and attract attention, it is very 

 easy to catch them. 



As soon as one of these birds is caught and caged, he must be put in a 

 quiet place, be fed with earth and meal-worms, and thus be gradually ac- 

 customed to the common food. 



Attractive Qualities. — The song of the dipper is not disagreeable ; 

 he has, indeed, some very sonorous strains, which in the distance and 

 during winter have a very good effect. He also sings in the night. 



THE MISSEL THRUSH. 

 Tardus viscivorus, Linn^us ; La Draine, Bufkon ; Die Misleldrossel, BtcusTEiN 



This is the largest of our thrushes, being in length eleven 

 inches, three and a half of which belong to the tail. The beak 

 is one inch in length, sharp, dark brown, with the lower base 

 and opening yellow ; the iris is brown ; the shanks an inch 

 high, and of a pale dusky yellow. All the upper part of the 

 body is a brownish gray, with a reddish tint on the lower part 

 of the back and rump ; the sides of the head and the rest of 

 the under part of the body are of a pale yellow, with blackish 

 triangular spots on the breast, and oval spots in all other parts. 



The female is generally lighter in all the colours. 



Habitation. — When wild the missel thrush is found all over Europe, 

 but more in the north than the south. It lives in forests, especially those 

 of the mountains, and prefers those of fir to oak and beech. In Thuringia 

 it is a bird of passage, disappearing in December and returning in the 

 month of February, provided the weather is fine *. 



* In England it coniinues throughout the year. — Translator- 



