MISTLETOE-THRUSH. 259 



resident in this country all the year, many certainly migrate 

 for the winter. Of those which remain the males begin 

 to sing very early in the season, often in January, and if 

 the weather he mild, sometimes in December. The strain, 

 which is something like that of the Blackbird, but not so 

 good in quality of tone, is repeated many times in succes- 

 sion, and generally from the top of some lofty tree ; but is 

 said to be occasionally uttered on the wing ; and, from the 

 song being frequently given almost regardless of wind, rain 

 and even snow, the name of Storm-cock is a well-known 

 appellation of the Mistletoe- Thrush. It is also called the 

 Holm- Thrush, doubtless from its feeding greedily on the 

 berries of the Holm, as the Holly was formerly often called.* 

 The Mistletoe- Thrush is an early breeder, beginning to 

 build in March, and fixing its nest in or on the fork of a 

 branch of a tree, especially of an oak, beech or elm, covered 

 with lichens. The nest is composed outwardly of lichen, 

 moss, dry grass and coarse stems of other plants, coated 

 inwardly with a layer of mud, which again is covered with a 

 lining of fine grasses, but the bird will make use of various 

 odd materials bits of rag, paper and matting or shavings. 

 The nest is sometimes artfully concealed by the lichens 

 which deck its exterior, assimilating it to those which grow 

 on the branch which bears it ; but, as a rule, it is generally 

 placed in conspicuous and exposed situations, so as to be 



* Thus, among much other evidence that might be cited, Chaucer, in 

 the 'Parlement of Foules' has (st. 26) "The boxtre pipere, holm to whippis 

 lasch," where, according to Mr. Furnivall, five of the texts read "holm" or 

 "holme," three " holin " or "holyn," and one " holye." In the ' Promptorium 

 Parvulorum' written about 1440, and edited for the Camden Society by Mr. Way, 

 " Holme" and " Holy" are given as synonymous (p. 244). Spenser also, in his 

 'Virgil's Gnat,' has (st. 27) "the black Holme," an epithet pointing to a tree 

 with dark foliage. On the introduction into this country, about 1581, of the 

 evergreen oak (Quercus ilex) the name Holm-oak was applied to it as the oak 

 resembling the holly (Loudon, Arboretum, iii. p. 1902) ; and in like manner 

 Holm-berries as a name for those of the Butcher's broom (Ruscus aculeatus) is 

 probably of the same origin, the dark, shining and sharp-pointed leaves of the 

 two plants (to say nothing of their red berries) suggesting the likeness. The 

 Editor is indebted to his two learned friends, Mr. W. W. Skeat and Mr. J. Rawson 

 Lumby, for much of the information just given. 



