BRITISH BIRDS 



Order PASSERES. 



Family TURDID-^. Subfamily TURBINE. 



THE MISTLE-THRUSH. 

 Turdus viscivorus, Linnaeus. 

 Plate i. 



The Mistle-Thrush, Mistletoe-Thrush, or Stormcock, the largest of our native 

 species, may be found in meadows, woodlands, and gardens throughout the year. 

 There it seeks its food of worms, snails, and larvae, supplemented in autumn and 

 winter by various berries, including among others those of the mistletoe. 



The name Stormcock happily describes the character of this Thrush. Often long 

 before the coming of spring, he may be seen, perched high up on some tall tree, 

 pouring forth his wild and broken song, at one moment loud and clear, then again 

 lost in the rush of the wind among the branches. 



The sketch for the accompanying drawing was taken from a bird, singing in the 

 teeth of a north-easterly gale, among the topmost boughs of an old ivy-covered oak. 



Though usually a shy and wary bird, he is bold and fearless in defence of nest 

 and young, fiercely attacking any prowling magpie or other intruder upon his 

 domain, whom he pursues with loud and strident cries. The nest is made out- 

 wardly of grasses, to which moss and wool are sometimes added. Inside this 

 structure a layer of mud is spread, with a final lining of finer grasses. Placed on a 

 branch or in the fork of a tree, it contains four or five eggs, greenish- or reddish- 

 white in ground colour, blotched with ruddy-brown and lilac. 



The Mistle-Thrush inhabits the greater part of Europe, breeding as far north as 

 Norway ; in Asia ranging eastwards to Lake Baikal, while in winter it is found in 

 India, Persia, and North Africa. 



It may easily be distinguished from the Song-Thrush by its larger size, bolder 

 carriage, greyer colouring, and by having the axillaries white, instead of bufiish- 

 yellow. 



I. A 



