a THE MISTLE (OR MISSEL) THRUSH 



confess that I agree with neither. This note, generally the earliest 

 of the Spring sounds (for the Redbreast's song belongs essenti- 

 ally to winter), is to my ear fuU of cheerful promise amounting to 

 confidence — a song of exultation in the return of genial weather. 

 The bird sings generally perched on the topmost branch of some 

 lofty tree, and there he remains for hours together out-whistling 

 the wind and heeding not the pelting rain. This song, however, 

 is not continuous, but broken into passages of a few notes each, 

 by which characteristic it may be distinguished alike from that 

 of the Thrush or the Blackbird, even when mellowed by dis- 

 tance to resemble either. The Mistletoe Thrush is essentially a 

 tree-loving bird. During winter its food mainly consists of berries, 

 among which those of the Mountain Ash and Yew have the pre- 

 ference, though it also feeds on those of the Hawthorn, Ivy, Juniper, 

 and the strange plant from which it derives its name.^ Towards other 

 birds it is a very tyrant, selfish and domineering in the extreme ; 

 to such a degree, indeed, that even when it has appeased its appe- 

 tite it will allow no other bird to approach the tree which it has 

 appropriated for its feeding ground. I have seen it take pos- 

 session of a Yew-tree laden with berries, and most mercilessly 

 drive away, with angry vociferations and yet more formidable 

 buffets, every other bird that dared to come near. Day after 

 day it returned, until the tree was stripped of every berry, when 

 it withdrew and appeared no more. 



As soon as the unfrozen earth is penetrable by its beak, it adds 

 to its diet such worms and grubs as it can discover ; and, if it 

 be not belied, it is given to plunder the nests of other birds of 

 their eggs and young. It may be on this account that Magpies, 

 Jays, and other large woodland birds, robbers themselves, enter- 

 tain an instinctive dislike towards it. Certainly these birds are its 

 better enemies ; but in the breeding season it eludes their animo- 

 sity by quitting the woods, and resorting to the haunts of man 

 Its harsh screech is now rarely heard, for its present object is not 

 defiance, but immunity from danger. Yet it takes no extraor- 

 dinary pains to conceal its nest. On the contrary, it usually places 

 this where there is little or no foliage to shadow it, in a fork between 

 two large boughs of an apple, pear, or cheery tree, sometimes only 

 a few feet from the ground, and sometimes twenty feet or more. 

 The nest is a massive structure, consisting of an external basket- 

 work of twigs, roots, and lichens, within which is a kind of bowl of 

 mud containing a final lining of grass and roots. The bird is an 

 early builder. It generally lays five eggs and feeds its young 

 on snaUs, worms, and insects. The range of the Mistle Thrush 

 extends as far as the Himalayas. In Great Britain it is a resident 

 species. 



> That this thrush feeds on the berries of the mistletoe was stated by 

 Yarrell, but it is not now generally believed to be' a fact. 



