MISTLETOE AS FOOD FOR BIRDS 393 



that both these thrushes do at least occasionally — 

 perhaps only in severe weather when other food 

 fails them — feed upon the viscous berries of the 

 plant in question. 



So long ago as 1842, the late Edwin Lees, of 

 Worcester, in a little volume abounding with 

 original observations on natural history, and 

 quaintly entitled The Botanical Looker-out among 

 the ,Wild Flowers of England and Wales, remarks 

 on page 10 : — 



"As the Mistletoe derives no nutriment from 

 the earth, and has therefore no necessity to fall to 

 the ground, its dissemination is wisely entrusted to 

 birds, which are tempted to feed on its white berries 

 when other supplies fail, and in cleaning their bills 

 on the rind of various trees frequented by them, are 

 sure to leave behind a few of the clammy seeds to 

 perpetuate the continuance of the parasite. It is 

 not improbable also, that the seeds pass through the 

 bodies of birds uninjured, as stated by old writers, 

 and are even benefited by the forward tendency 

 thus given them to earlier germination." 



To these general remarks he adds the following 

 precise observations, to which, as pertinent to my 

 inquiry, I desire to direct particular attention. He 

 says (p. 11), and the statement is repeated in the 

 second edition of his book (185 1, p. 44) : — 



" Birds of the Thrush family chiefly delight in 

 the Mistletoe berries, especially the Fieldfares and 

 Redwings ; and as these generally fly in flocks, 

 keeping in one line of direction, it is not unusual 

 to see a corresponding line of Mistletoe bushes 



