DERIVED FROM BIRDS AND FLOWERS. 175 



as a common opinion entertained by country people 

 above two centuries ago ; and I must not withhold my 

 own faith in its veracity, but say that I believe this 

 pretty little flower to afford more certain indication of 

 dryness or moisture in the air, than any of our hygrom- 

 eters do. But if these be fallible criterions, we will 

 notice another, that seldom deceives us. The approach 

 of a sleety snow-storm, following a deceitful gleam in 

 spring, is always announced to us by the loud untune- 

 ful voice of the missel thrush (turdus viscivorus), as it 

 takes its stand on some tall tree, like an enchanter 

 calling up the gale. It seems to have no song, no voice, 

 but this harsh predictive note ; and it in great measure 

 ceases with the storms of spring. We hear it occasion- 

 ally in autumn, but its voice is not then the prognostic 

 of any change of weather. The missel-thrush is a wild 

 and wary bird, keeping generally in open fields and 

 commons, heaths, and unfrequented places, feeding upon 

 worms and insects. In severe weather it approaches 

 our plantations and shrubberies, to feed on the berry 

 of the mistletoe, the ivy, or the scarlet fruit of the 

 holly or the yew ; and should the redwing or the field- 

 fare presume to partake of these with it, we are sure to 

 hear its voice in clattering and contention with the in- 

 truders, until it drives them from the place, though it 

 watches and attends, notwithstanding, to its own safety. 

 In April it begins to prepare its nest. This is large and 

 so openly placed, as would, if built in the copse, in? 

 fallibly expose it to the plunder of the magpie and the 

 crow, which at this season prey upon the eggs of every 

 nest they can find. To avoid this evil, it resorts to our 

 gardens and our orchards, seeking protection from man, 

 near whose haunts those rapacious plunderers are care- 

 ful of approaching ; yet they will at times attempt to 

 seize upon its eggs even there, when the thrush attacks 

 them and drives them away with a hawklike fury ; and 

 the noisy warfare of the contending parties occasionally 

 draws our attention to them. The call of the young 

 birds to their parents for food is unusually disagreeable, 

 and reminds us of the croak of a frog. The brood being 

 reared, it becomes again a shy and wild creature, aban- 



