THRUSH. 19 



shifts its quarters ;■* but we do not know for certain of its being seen 

 out of Europe ; on the one hand we find it in Sweden, Denmark, 

 and the west parts of Russia ;f and on the other Italy. In England it 

 is called by various names, asSchreech Thrush, Holm, and Misseltoe 

 Thrush ; and in Hampshire and Sussex, Storm Cock. Comes into 

 Burgundy in October and November, from the Mountains of Lor- 

 raine ; returning to them, in order to breed, in March and April : is 

 sufficiently common throughout Germany. 



It makes the nest with us in low trees, about the middle of 

 March, J in orchards, between the forks of an apple tree ; it is com- 

 posed of withered grass, moss, and lichen, intermixed with wool, 

 and lined with fine dry grass : the eggs are four or five, of a dirty 

 flesh-colour, marked with deeper and lighter ferruginous, or san- 

 guineous spots, and weigh rather more than two drachms each. This 

 bird has a loud and piercing song, too much so to be agreeable to 

 every hearer, and begins often as early as January, continuing the 

 same at intervals, whenever the weather is mild ; it may be heard 

 much farther off than the Song Thrush, but the melody of the latter 

 is far superior. Its food consists chiefly of berries, and in spring 

 those of ivy, § caterpillars, and insects of all kinds; it is less 

 destructive to gardens than other species of the Thrush kind. It is 

 supposed to assist in the propagation of Misseltoe, swallowing the 

 seeds whole, and depositing them with its excrements on the branches 

 of trees; and we believe that this parasitical plant will oftener be 

 found attached to the apple tree than any other ; not that the passing 

 of the seeds through the digestive organs of this bird is a necessary 

 preparation towards the success of their vegetation, as experience has 

 proved that the growth will succeed equally well without. || 



* About Carlisle, in Cumberland, it is much less frequent than the Throstle, and it is 

 not quite certain, that it remains there throughout the winter.— Dr. Heysham. 



t Arct. Zool. J According to Albin, twice in a year; but we believe, it rarely 



makes a second nest, unless the first is destroyed. 



§ Both this, and others of the Thrushes, have been observed to eat the roots of the 

 Arum in very hard winters. — White' s Selb . p. 128. || See a Paper on the propagation 



of the Misseltoe, by the Rev. E. Barrel Phil. Trans, xxxiv. p. 215. 



D2 



