102 THE MISSEL THRUSH 



In confinement it is common to assign it a grated corner of the room 

 imless a cage is preferred, -which must be at least three feet and a half 

 long, and nearly as many high, a size necessary for it to take tlie exercise 

 siiited to its vivacity and petulance, without injuring its feathers. It would 

 be still better if it could be allowed, as other birds of its size, an anary or 

 room to itself, where its copious excrements would be less troublesome. 



Food. — When wild it feeds on insects and earth-worms, which it finds 

 in abundance in fields and swamps during the spring and summer; in 

 autumn and wnter berries of all sorts make a great addition. 



In confinement it is not dainty. The two universal pastes are very well 

 liked, but it will put up with plain oatmeal, or even bran moistened with 

 water. It is thus that our bird-fanciers feed it throughout the year, as well 

 as many otiier large birds caught in traps, which they are obliged to keep 

 as a lure for the snare. It is true, that if this meagre diet is suflRcient to 

 keep it alive, it Avill hardly serve to enliven it and make it sing ; for this 

 purpose it must be better fed, with bread and milk, meat, and other dishes 

 served at table, none of which it refuses; and it must also be allowed to 

 bathe, since nothing does it more good, or enlivens it so much. 



Breeding Its nest, which it places higher or lower in the trees of the 



forest, is formed at bottom of herb-stalks and lichens, in the middle of 

 earth, and in the interior of mosses, fine roots and hay: it lays tvrice a 

 year, generally each time four greenish white eggs, a little speckled -with 

 violet and maroon. The young birds are gray above and very much spot- 

 ted under, with a wide edge of rusty yellow on the wing feathers. Much 

 less docile and susceptible of instruction than the blackbird, they hardly 

 remember any little thing which they hear continually, but they become 

 so familiar as to sing without difficulty on the hand. They are fed with 

 white bread soaked in boiled milk. 



Diseases. — The commonest disorders of this bird, are an obstruction of 

 the rump gland, constipation, and atrophy *. 



Mode of Taking.' — These birds are taken in autumn with nets and 

 snares, with berries for the bait, and they are caught in great numbers. 

 They may also be taken in February, by placing under the trees on which 

 the mistleto grows, perches with limed twigs. They may also be caught 

 in the water-traps at sunset. Those which are yellowish under the body, 

 being males, are chosen for confinement. During the first dljrs of captivity, 

 they are savage, sulky, and often refuse to eat, so that many perish in this 

 way ; those which are saved soon repay the trouble by their songs and 

 familiarity. 



Attractive Qualities — Perched on the top of a tree in the woods, 

 the missel thrush begins, in the month of February, to utter his melancholy 

 but musical warblings, consisting of five or six broken strains, and continues 

 singing for four or five months. As his song is too loud for the sitting- 

 room, this bird should be placed in a large hall, or his cage should be hung 

 outside a window. He lives in captivity from ten to twelve years. His 

 call very much resembles " Us, r, r, r." 



* Bathing may prevent the first ; boiled bread and milk adiPinisteredseAsouubJy 

 relieves, and even entirely cures, the other.— TRANSLArt^n. 



