MISSEL THRUSH. 
5 
Holland, where it is very rare. In Thuringia, Bechstein 
speaks of it as a bird of passage, leaving that part in De¬ 
cember, and returning in February. 
Its French name, Draine, and its German appellation, 
Schnarre, according to Temminck, are descriptive of its 
noisy vociferations whenever its nest is approached. Brehm 
calls this species Baum Drossel (Tree Thrush), from its cus¬ 
tom of sitting singing upon taller trees than are frequented 
by other species. 
The Missel Thrush may be easily reared from the nest, 
and becomes very tame; it will eat almost any kind of 
food, meat, bread and milk, oatmeal moistened into a paste, 
etc. It is a very hungry bird, and requires to be kept in 
a large cage, as it is very careless of its plumage ; it also 
needs much water for bathing, in which it much delights. 
The Missel Thrush, although dressed in very sober co¬ 
lours, is a handsome bird. Its upper plumage is olive-brown, 
tinged with ash, wing-coverts brown, bordered with dull- 
white, the lower part of the back, and upper coverts of the 
tail, lighter brown, inclined to rufous. The quill-feathers 
dusky, edged with cinereous, as also the tail, which has some 
of the outer feathers tipped with white. The under coverts 
of the wings are greyish-white, and there is a streak of the 
same colour between the beak and the eye. The beak is 
brown, yellowish at the base; the iris brown; the legs and 
toes brownish flesh-colour. The under parts of the bird are 
white, tinged with yellow-ochre, each feather marked at the 
tip with a dusky spot, which is of a round form on the 
breast, belly, and flanks, angular on the sides of the neck ; 
the ear-coverts are greyish-white, spotted with brown. The 
female very nearly resembles the male, but is whiter on the 
under parts. The young of the year are paler and more 
ash-coloured on the upper parts ; the feathers of the head, 
neck, and scapulars, mottled with white. 
