MISTLETOE THRUSH.— SONG THRUSH. 45 



Missel Thrushes, though the dams are fierce birds, and fight 

 boldly in defence of their nests. It is probably to avoid 

 such insults that this species of Thrush, though wild at other 

 times, delights to build near houses, and in frequented walks 

 and gardens" (see 'Natural History of Selborne,' edit, of 

 1803, vol. ii. p. 165). On the 14th of February, 1859, my 

 gardener, hearing a great clamour of birds on the other side 

 of a wall from where he was working, went to see what was 

 the matter, when he saw a Missel Thrush take its departure 

 from a Hawfinch, which he picked up in an insensible state. 

 As it got better, I put it in a cage, where it soon got appa- 

 rently all right, and cracked some hawthorn-stones ; but a 

 few hours after was dead. 



SONG THRUSH. 



Turdus musicus. 



Extremely common everywhere, frequenting our gardens 

 and shrubberies, and when the time comes taking heavy toll 

 from fruits of all kinds. In return, however, for these de- 

 predations it repays us with its charming melody throughout 

 the year, though more especially in the spring. It destroys, 

 too, an enormous quantity of earthworms and snails, bringing 

 the latter to some favourite stone to break, where numbers 

 of the shells may frequently be found, aud returning again 

 and again to this selected spot. 



This species is resident, receiving large additions from the 

 North, of natives, and from the East, of arrivals from the 

 continent in summer and autumn. It seems to be one of 

 the earliest resident birds to be affected by the cold, and is 

 frequently found dead on a sudden accession of frost, though, 

 as a rule, it retires to the coast, where it finds an abundant 



