MISTLE THRUSH 



. Turdus viscivorus 



\ U RING the progress of recent years, the Mistle Thrush 

 has considerably extended its range in the British Islands. 

 The bird is an inhabitant of the well - cultivated and 

 sheltered parts of the Lowlands, but owing to the 

 extensive planting which has taken place in many of our 

 northern counties, it has spread from its original haunts 

 to the more isolated plantations and woods of the North. 

 It is at the present time a fairly common bird in most wooded localities, 

 and has even extended its range to some of the outlying islands, although 

 as yet it is only a straggler to the Orkneys. 



The Mistle Thrush is found in Great Britain throughout the year, but 

 those birds which have reared their young in the wild uplands, gradually 

 draw nearer to the well -cultivated districts as the winter sets in. Its haunts 

 are somewhat varied ; in well-wooded and cultivated districts it is to be seen 

 about the gardens, shrubberies, and orchards, and is especially fond of well- 

 wooded pleasure-grounds. Among the moorlands it frequents the fir woods 

 and plantations, and the copses of birch and alder on the banks of the 

 mountain streams. During the autumn the Mistle Thrushes collect into 

 little parties, and are extremely wild and shy; they are generally seen on the 

 grass fields, stubble, and turnip fields, and are often mistaken for Fieldfares. 

 Unlike the Song Thrushes, which love to skulk among the brushwood or 

 among the leaves of the turnips, the Mistle Thrushes are nearly always seen 

 in the open, and take wing on the approach of danger, uttering their harsh 

 grating cries as they fly to the nearest trees for shelter. The Mistle Thrush is 

 a much swifter bird on the wing than its relatives the Blackbird and Song 

 Thrush, and as a rule flies much higher in the air. It inhabits the trees and 

 shrubs, only descending to the ground in search of food. 



VOL. IV. A I 



