THE MISSEL THRUSH. 337 



Mode of Taking. In autumn and winter, these birds maybe 

 taken in great numbers with nets and snares, baited with 

 berries. From December to February, they may be caught 

 with limed perches, placed under trees on which the mistletoe 

 grows ; a process which may be successfully repeated after the 

 interval of a week. After sunset they may be taken in the 

 water-trap. Those which are more yellow than others on the 

 lower part of the body, being the males, are preserved for con- 

 finement, When first caught they are very wild, and many 

 starve themselves to death ; but those which are saved soon 

 become tamer. 



Attractive Qualities. As early as February the Missel Thrush 

 may be observed on the top of a tree, especially at night and 

 morning, singing its clear and melancholy song ; this, which 

 consists of five or six unconnected notes, is too loud for the 

 sitting-room, and the cage should therefore be hung in an 

 adjoining apartment, or in a large hall. Its cry is a twit- 

 tering Jis-rrr I It lives in confinement ten or twelve years. 



ADDITIONAL. The Grey Thrush, Holm Thrush, Screech 

 Thrush, Storm Cock, and Missel or Mistle Thrush, are various 

 names applied to this, the largest of British songsters. " There 

 is a sort of double naming in this bird," says MUDIE ; " it is 

 called the Missel Thrush, because it ' missels' (soils) its toes with 

 the viscid slimy juice of the mistletoe berries, of which it is very 

 fond in the winter ; and the mistletoe gets its name because it 

 soils the toes of the bird." We have some doubts as to the 

 correctness of this rather fanciful piece of etymological informa- 

 tion, at all events, as regards the origin of the name of the plant ; 

 into this, however, it is not our business to enquire at present ; 

 we may therefore proceed to quote what other authors say of the 

 bird. 



" The people of Hampshire," says GILBERT WHITE, " call the 

 Missel-bird the Storm Cock, because it sings early in the spring 

 in blowing, showery weather. Its song often commences with 

 the year. With us it builds much in orchards." This author 

 also alludes to its fierceness and pugnacity during the breeding 

 season, and says that " the Welch call it pen y llwyn, the head 

 or master of the coppice. He suffers no Magpie, Jay, or Black- 

 bird to enter the garden where he haunts, and is, for the time, a 

 good guard for the new-sown legumens. In general he is very 

 successful in defence of his family ; but once I observed in my 

 garden that several M agpies came determined to storm the nest 

 of a Missel Thrush. The dams defended their mansion with 



