MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



berries are getting plentiful in the northern 

 moorlands. 



Questions of commissariat, indeed, have 

 most to do with the migrations of birds ; it 

 is not weather, as weather, but the condition 

 of the food-supply that mainly regulates their 

 periodical movements. Now, the missel- 

 thrush is almost entirely vegetarian in his 

 habits ; whereas his cousin, the song-thrush, 

 subsists for the most part on a regimen of 

 worms and other miscellaneous unsavoury 

 animals. Hence it follows, of course, that the 

 missel-thrush must needs go where berries 

 are in season ; he follows them closely across 

 the face of Europe, from province to province 

 He cannot stand great cold, however, and 

 often freezes to death in severe winters ; 

 which is another reason why he comes south 

 for warmth when Norwegian hills rise white 

 with snow, and fjords are blocked with ice, 

 and crystal-frosted pine-trees glisten in the 

 sun with innumerable diamonds. Family 

 parties of missel-thrushes may be seen in 



28 



