NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 149 



in number, are laid early in the season, sometimes in March, and are 

 greenish-blue, usually blotched with black or purplish-brown, but are 

 sometimes unspotted. Two or three broods are reared in a season. 



Suffolk, May. 

 Presented by T. Har court- Powell, Esq. 



No. 35. MISTLE-THRUSH. (Turdus viscivorus.) 



A resident species, often called the " Storm-cock/' from its habit of 

 singing during the roughest weather, and common throughout the 

 British Islands, where it breeds very early in the year. It feeds on fruits 

 of various kinds, snails, worms, and insects, being especially partial to 

 the berries of the yew, holly, mountain -ash, and mistletoe, etc., from 

 the last of which its trivial name is derived. The somewhat untidily 

 finished nest is generally conspicuously placed in the fork of a tree at 

 some distance from the ground, and composed of bents and lichens, 

 lined with dry grass, placed on a foundation of mud. The eggs, four 

 or five in number, are sometimes laid as early as February, and the 

 ground-colour is greenish- or tawny-white, blotched with reddish-brown 

 and lilac. Two broods are often reared in a season. 



Norfolk, May. 

 Presented by Lord Walsingham. 



No. 36. WHITE'S THRUSH. (Geocichla varia.) 



A native of Northern Asia, ranging from Central Siberia to China 

 and Japan, where it breeds. It is an accidental visitor to Great Britain 

 and Ireland, as well as to the north of Europe. 



Japan, May. 

 Presented by Heatley Noble, Esq. 



No. 37. DIPPER or WATER-OUZEL. 



(Cinclus aquaticus.) 



This resident species is found throughout the more hilly parts of the 

 British Islands wherever there are rapidly flowing streams. It swims 

 and dives with equal facility, arid may sometimes be seen walking below 

 the water on the bottom of a pool, searching for the water -insects on 

 which it feeds. The nest, an oval ball of moss, leaves, etc., with an 

 entrance in the side, is always placed close to the^water's edge, in some 



