THE MISSEL THRUSH. 127 



thus particular, as similar depredations on the part of this species 

 have not been related in any ornithological work with winch I am 

 acquainted. In his History of Selborne, "White remarks, that 

 "missel-thrushes do not destroy the fruit in our gardens like 

 other species of Turdi," and on this passage (so far as I have noticed) 

 not one of his numerous commentators has made an observa- 

 tion. Sir Wm. Jardine * particularizes only " wild-bevnes " as 

 their food ; hence we may conclude that the gardens known to him 

 have been exempt from their attacks. In an anonymous contribu- 

 tion to Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, facts similar to 

 those I have brought forward are recorded (vol. iv. p. 184). 



The stomachs of two individuals, examined by me in January 

 and September, contained the remains of coleopterous insects in 

 addition to vegetable matter. Mr. J. Poole mentions " lob- worms" 

 as their general food, but that in one stomach he found several 

 small green caterpillars, some Scolopendrce, and the remains of 

 a lizard. These birds vary much in numbers in different years, and 

 are capricious as to localities, not a flock, either large or small, being 

 seen in some seasons at places where they are usually common. I 

 have been particularly reminded of this by not seeing one about 

 Holywood House during the autumn of 1847, while in that of 

 1846, and commonly, they were in such numbers, that from 

 twenty to thirty would be seen at a time feeding on the berries 

 of the mountain-ash trees {Pyrus auciiparia) near the windows 

 of the dwelling-house. 



Friends who have had better opportunities for observation than 

 myself, are of opinion that the flocks seen in July and August 

 about Belfast, and believed to be bred there, migrate southward, 

 which supposition is strengthened by the statements of corres- 

 pondents residing further south; and by the fact, that the birds 

 are never seen in numbers during the winter, though a regular 

 stock is kept up throughout the year. In Connemara, the 

 species is said to be common in winter, and only at that 

 season.f Its "average winter arrival" to the neighbourhood 



* Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 77. t Mr. M'Cedla. 



