166 MISSEL THRUSH. 



distance: they seem to be more numerous in some places than 

 they formerly used to be. They are tolerably good to eat. 

 When feeding on the ground they disperse rather widely from 

 each other, hopping briskly about, and pecking up any thing 

 they can find. If danger is descried or suspected, an alarm 

 is given by some sentinel by a low harsh scream, which is 

 responded to by a general removal, if necessary. In flying, 

 too, the individuals do not keep very close together, and 

 while proceeding, a low scream is now and then uttered, and 

 when some desirable place for alighting presents itself, they 

 either suddenly descend to it, still at some little distance 

 apart from each other, or fly about over the field for some 

 time before doing so. 



In March the flocks break up, and about the end of that 

 month, or towards the middle of April, the individuals that 

 have composed them now unite into pairs, and frequent some 

 wood, or garden, or orchard, the latter being a very frequent 

 choice, from whence excursions are made into the neighbouring 

 gardens and fields. The small parties that again are seen 

 together after the breeding-season, are doubtless in the first 

 instance the members of the family. Mr. Macgillivray has 

 seen a flock of seventeen so early as the 25th. of June the 

 parent birds would seem to pair for life. The female is often 

 very fearless when sitting, and has been known to fly at an 

 intruder, as both birds will at a Magpie or Hawk. They 

 are easily reared from the nest, and become very tame. 



Their flight, which is undulated, is rather heavy, though 

 quick on occasion, and performed by a series of flappings, 

 with short intervals of cessation; on first alighting the bird 

 stands for a short time with the head raised, the back and 

 tail deflected, and the wings slightly drooping. 



This species was imagined by the ancients to have a peculiar 

 fondness for the berries of the misseltoe, of which indeed it 

 was supposed, according to the old proverb, 'Turdus malum 

 sibi,' to be a sort of foster-parent. Authors, says Aristotle, 

 love their books on the same principle that parents love their 

 children, as being a sort of reproduction of themselves mine 

 for my 'History of British Birds,' I may here take the 

 opportunity of thankfully observing, has been not a little 

 enhanced by the extensive approbation of the public a wise 

 and discerning public and in the same way, if there were 

 any truth in the old opinion, the bird might love the berry; 

 but the supposition is not adequately borne out by the fact. 



