472 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



or low tree close to a cottage, as though recognising a certain protection in the 

 neighbourhood of man. The nest is built of stems of dry grass, moss, and vegetable 

 fibres, often trimmed externally with grey lichens ; the eggs being greyish green 

 in ground-colour, spotted with chocolate. During the breeding-season the missel- 

 thrush exercises a watchful surveillance over the orchard or garden in which its 

 nest is built, boldly mobbing jackdaws and even larger intruders, if they attempt 



SONG-THRUSH AND RING-OUZEL (\ nat. size). 



to rob its belongings. The old birds exhibit much devotion to their young, and 

 will permit of a very close approach whilst feeding them. When the young are 

 fledged, they gather into family parties, which scour the country in search of new 

 feeding-grounds. The song of the storm-cock, as it is frequently called, can be 

 heard to the best advantage on a stormy day in springtime, when the bird sends 

 forth his loud sonorous notes, as though in defiance of the elements. A migratory 

 species, and often snared on its autumn journey through Central Europe, the 

 missel-thrush is not so subject to abnormal variations of plumage as is the song- 



