208 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The haunts of the Missel-Thrush are considerably diversified^ the rich, 

 ■well-cultivated districts and the borders of the moorlands bein^ equally- 

 tenanted by them. In the former situation it is usually found in the 

 neighbourhood of large gardens^ in orchards, shrubberies, small woods, and 

 plantations, and especially in well-wooded parks and pleasure-grounds. 

 On the borders of the upland wilds it frequents the fir-plantations, wooded 

 roughs, and the banks of mountain-streams and coppices of birch and 

 alder. The Missel-Thrush is found in Great Britain throughout the year; 

 but it is subject to some little internal migration. For instance, the birds 

 that frequent the upland districts in summer retire to the lower lands in 

 winter ; and birds from the more isolated woods and coppices draw nearer 

 to the cultivated districts should the weather be severe. But these re- 

 marks apply to our indigenous birds alone. The rigours of a northern 

 winter send the Missel-Thrush southwards ; and considerable numbers of 

 these migrants remain on our shores throughout the winter, arriving at 

 the same time as the Fieldfare, with which bird they often associate. 

 Although for the greater part of the year the Missel-Thrush is a non- 

 gregarious bird, still in the early autumn, when the breeding-season is 

 over, and the young birds are strong on the wing, a sociable disposition 

 manifests itself. The birds are then seen in little parties ; and as the 

 autumn progresses they congregate in considerable flocks, very often being 

 mistaken for early arrivals of Fieldfares. At this season the Missel- 

 Thrushes are extremely wild and wary, and are usually seen on the turnip- 

 fields or newly-ploughed lands in the early morning, and later in the 

 day on the grass-fields and stubbles. In the turnip-fields they choose 

 the parts where the crop has been cleared off, and, as a rule, do not skulk 

 under the broad leaves, like the Song-Thrush ; but they are, nevertheless, 

 easily alarmed, and take wing the instant danger threatens, rising into the 

 air, and flying from tree to tree, uttering their harsh and grating cries 

 both as they fly and when they are at rest in the tree-tops. As the year 

 begins to wane and the leafless twigs tell of the approach of winter, these 

 bands of Missel-Thrushes, from some unknown cause, disperse ; and for 

 the rest of the winter the birds either live in solitude or congregate in 

 small parties only. Although in the nesting-season few birds excel the 

 Missel-Thrush in trustfulness, at all other times of the year he is a shy 

 and wary bird, and rarely comes near houses, save when hard pressed for 

 food. Missel- Thrushes, as a rule, fly much higher than Song-Thrushes 

 or Blackbirds. They are capable of flying with great SAviftness, and have 

 considerable command over themselves in the air — witness their motions 

 round the head of an intruder when in the neighbourhood of their nest. 

 At other times they fly with a scries of rapid beats with but short intervals 

 of cessation, and with but very little undulation. The Missel-Tbriish 



