THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 209 



a 



when about to alight on a tree usually ascends some little distance to 

 perching-place. It is a decided inhabitant of trees and shrubs, except 

 when in search of food, which for eight months in the year is found chiefly 

 on the ground. The remaining four months he is for the most part a 

 berry feeder, although, if the weather be mild and open, we find him 

 pretty frequently on the grasslands in company with the Redwing. 



The Missel-Thrush is partly graminivorous and partly insectivorous, 

 according to the season of the year. In the spring and summer it is seen 

 on the pastures just as frequently as the Blackbird j but, unlike that 

 species and the Song-Thrush, it never seeks its food under the evergreens 

 and hedgerows, but always in the open. On the grass it obtains earth- 

 worms, snails (both those with and those without shells), larvje of 

 various kinds, and insects. In the late summer, and throughout the 

 autumn, fruit and berries are largely sought after. This fare is obtained 

 in gardens as well as woods, and is composed of cherries, gooseberries, 

 raspberries, and in the upland districts the various moor fruit and the 

 berries of the mountain-ash. The berries of the service-tree in the 

 autumn months are perhaps more eagerly sought after by the Missel- 

 Thrush than any other food. Where the trees are covered with fruit the 

 birds may be seen incessantly, frequenting them until they are entirely 

 stripped. In late autumn and in early spring, when sowing-operations 

 are in progress, the l\Iissel-Thrush will frequent the fields and pick up the 

 scattered grain, varying this fare with grubs and insects. In winter the 

 bird is to a great extent a wanderer. Its food is largely composed of 

 berries of the hawthorn ; and, like the Fieldfare, it wanders from one district 

 to another. The berry that is perhaps most closely associated with the 

 Missel-Thrush is that of the famous parasite the misseltoe. Popular 

 opinion regards this waxen berry as the staple food of the " Stormcock," and 

 assumes that the bird is the principal disseminator of this parasitic plant. 

 Pliny even propounded the startling theory that the berries of this plant 

 will not germinate unless they have previously passed through the intes- 

 tines of birds, notably of the Missel-Thrush ! This bird does not eat the 

 berries of the misseltoe to such an extent as is popularly believed. In 

 districts where this plant abounds it is rarely found denuded of its berries, 

 although the jMissel-Thnish may be the commonest of birds in the neigh- 

 bourhood. The berries of tlie hawthorn, the ivy, and the service-tree are 

 its staple food in the winter season. It is not at all improbable, however, 

 that when the birds do occasionally eat the berries of the misseltoe the 

 seeds are disseminated by their clinging to the bill of the bird, who, to rid 

 itself of them, cleans it on the bark, and thus unwittingly places them in 

 some crevice where they eventually germinate. The Missel-Thrush sings 

 throughout the winter. In early autumn, after being silent throughout 

 the breeding-season^ he regains his powers of song, and may be heard to 



VOL. I. P 



