THE APPLE. 



311 



The Apple-tree, both in its wild and cultivated 

 state, is hable to be infested with the Mistletoe, 

 which frequently does great injury. 



In the west of England this parasite is but little 

 known ; but the Apple-trees, especially in the 

 vicinity of the sea, are often so thickly invested 

 \dth lichens, that the bark is scarcely to be dis- 

 tinguished, except on the very young shoots. 

 Most of them are of a pale ashen-grey or whitish 

 tint ; one, however, which occurs but rarely in 

 the eastern counties, Borrera Jlavicans, is very 

 conspicuous for its tangled golden tufts, which 

 in winter, when the tree is divested of foliage, 

 are very ornamental. 



I must not omit to mention that the Mistletoe 

 Thrush, or Storm-cock, which at most seasons 

 is one of our wildest birds, in spring deserts its 

 favourite tree, the Mountain Ash, and resorts to 

 the neighbourhood of human dwellings. There 

 it selects, as a fit place for rearing its young, 

 an Apple-tree close to the house, choosing the 

 angle between the trunk and one of the principal 

 branches. It builds its nest of materials which 

 closely resemble the bark of the tree, and, though 

 exceedingly shy at other seasons, now sits so 

 closely, that one may advance to within a few 

 yards of the nest Vvdthout being noticed. The 

 beautiful copper-coloured Chafiinch also prefers 

 to build her elec^ant nest amono' the twig-s of the 

 Apple-tree, and decorates it in the neatest man- 

 ner with the lichens which infest the tree she has 

 selected. 



