210 BRITISH BIRDS. 



sing until the nesting-season in the following spring. No sooner has this 

 time arrived than the " Stormcock " drops his wild melody, and, unlike 

 all his congeners, performs the duties of breeding in silence. The song 

 resembles in some of its tones that of the Song-Thrush and Blackbird ; 

 but it possesses a peculiar loudness and wild variation strictly its own, and 

 may, by one who pays attention to the songs of birds, be instantly dis- 

 tinguished from the notes of any other British songster. Like the notes 

 of the Ring-Ouzel, it is somewhat monotonous, but rich and mellow. 

 Before the first streak of dawn shoots across the dull wintery sky, the 

 Missel-Thrush may be heard pouring forth his wild carol; and in the 

 evening, when the dusk is falling, he sings equally well. But perhaps 

 the time the " Stormcock's " song is heard to best advantage is on some 

 wild day when part of his performance is drowned by the storm. Perched 

 on the leafless branches of a lofty tree, he sits and warbles forth his song 

 amidst the driving sleet and the roaring tempest. Should you disturb the 

 Missel-Thrush when singing, he usually drops silently down and awaits 

 your departure, though sometimes he merely retires to a neighbouring 

 tree and warbles as sweetly as before. The call-notes of the Missel-Thrush 

 are extremely harsh and discordant, resembling those of the Song-Thrush, 

 yet infinitely louder and harsher. 



Missel-Thrushes pair about the first week in February, and at that 

 season they are very pugnacious ; and when paired they often frequent 

 the locality of their nest weeks before a twig is laid in furtherance of it. 



Very probably, on account of its exceptional wariness of disposition, the 

 Missel-Thrush prefers somewhat different nesting-sites, and, to a certain 

 extent, breeding-grounds, from those of its near allies the Song-Thrush and 

 the Blackbird. Still much of this inherent wariness disappears in the breed- 

 ing-season, and it will frequently rear its young in the most exposed situa- 

 tions. The Missel-Thrush is an early breeder, commencing in some cases 

 in February ; and two (and sometimes three) broods are reared in the season. 

 Its nest may be found on most of the forest trees, and but rarely in the bushes. 

 The birch-copses, larch-plantations, woods, and orchards are its favourite 

 haunts, and in some cases trees standing alone, especially a road-side oak 

 or elm. A favourite situation is the alder trees bordering a stream, even on 

 the banks of the mountain-torrents on the moorlands. The nest is built at 

 various heights, sometimes only a few feet from the ground, at others near 

 the topmost branches. You never find it in the slender twigs, but either 

 placed on some horizontal bough away from the trunk, or on a suitable fork 

 of the main stem. Instances are known of the bird building in evergreens, 

 only a few feet from the ground ; but such cases are exceptions ; indeed 

 this bird seems to have a peculiar aversion to using evergreens for a nesting- 

 place. 



