THE MISTLETOE AS FOOD FOR BIRDS 



It is a popular notion that the only species of wild 

 bird which feeds on the berries of the Mistletoe is 

 the Mistletoe Thrush. Professor Newton, in the 

 fourth edition of Yarrell's British Birds (vol. i. 

 p. 620), writes : " Its food consists of various 

 slugs and snails, some fruit in the season, and 

 (when they can be found) berries of all sorts, 

 including those of the Mistletoe, whence it derives 

 its most common name — a fact known to Aristotle." 



That the Song Thrush does not follow its 

 example in this respect is to be inferred from the 

 absence of any published evidence to the contrary, 

 and it is scarcely to be doubted in the case of so 

 common a bird, frequenting, as it does, our gardens 

 and copses within easy reach of daily observation, 

 that did it, even occasionally, take the berries of the 

 Mistletoe, the fact could hardly fail to have been 

 noticed by observant naturalists. The same may 

 be said of the Blackbird and Ring Ouzel, though 

 both of these birds feed regularly on the berries 

 of the yew and mountain ash in autumn, and of the 

 ivy in spring. 



It is otherwise with the Fieldfare and Redwino-, 

 for, although it is perhaps not generally known, 

 there is on record the evidence of an eye-witness 



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