The Bird Book 



Towards evening they become especially active 

 and make for the marshes and mudflats of tidal 

 rivers or for the seashore, where they feed for a 

 considerable part of the night. At such times 

 they are difficult to approach, and to know them 

 truly one must visit them in their nesting haunts. 

 They breed in small and large colonies almost 

 wherever there is suitable open or marshy country, 

 and I have met with them in small numbers quite 

 close to London nesting in the grass pastures. 

 Even here the eggs were rather difficult to 

 discover for their dirty olive green colour, blotched 

 with blackish brown, harmonises wonderfully with 

 the surroundings, while of nest there is scarcely 

 any. A slight depression is scantily lined with 

 grass and four eggs are laid with the small ends 

 all pointed towards the centre. In this way they 

 occupy the least space and well the bird knows it, 

 for if they are touched and their position altered 

 the female always rearranges them on her return 

 to the nest. 



In the general winter gathering of the clans the 

 Thrush family too is well represented, for besides 

 the inevitable Blackbird and Song Thrush, family 

 parties of Missel Thrushes congregate, and if the 

 weather be cold, Fieldfares and Redwings make 

 their way south, and spread over the country in 

 vast numbers. 



At this time the Missel Thrushes are very shy, 

 keeping well out in the middle of large fields, 



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