MISSEL- TTIRUSH. 
TUIWUS FISCIFORUS. 
But few notes concerning the occurrence of the Missel-Thrush in the more northern counties of Scotland 
are to be found in my journals; a pair or two were, however, observed in the densely wooded strath 
through which the Beauly river runs down towards the coast. I also recognized the species near 
Dingwall, on the islands at Inverness, and in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld and a few of the adjacent glens. 
According to my own experience, this fine Thrush is decidedly local to the north of the Tweed. During 
a residence of a couple of years in East Lothian a few scattered birds were occasionally noticed late in 
autumn about the plantations in the vicinity of the coast ; these were, without doubt, migrants from across 
the North Sea working their way towards the south. Throughout England the Missel-Thrush is well known 
in every locality Avhere a sufficient amount of cover is to he found. 
Numbers of this species occasionally join in flocks before the close of summer: on August 5, 1870, shortly 
before dusk, I remarked some fifty to sixty circling in company round some of the beech-plantations on the 
Downs near Brighton ; these birds had collected to roost among the thick cover, and were probably all reared 
in the district. In Cornwall several flocks passed over the country between the Lizard and Penzance, flying 
west, during October 1880. On November 3, the day being fine, with a cold north-east wind, numbers of 
Missel-Thrushes were resorting in small parties to the shelter of the cliffs between the Logan Eock and the 
Land’s End ; the afternoon sun rendered the spot they had selected warm and bright, and flitting, when 
disturbed, from one patch of moss-grown rock to another, they carefully avoided the keen and wintry blasts : 
Swallows and Martins were also skimming backwards and forwards in the sunshine, while Blackstarts and 
a few Pipits were to be seen on the same ledges as the Thrushes. 
Prom the accession to their numbers frequently observed during the latter part of autumn and early 
winter, it is evident tliat eonsiderable numbers of Missel-Thrushes must reach our shores from the north of 
Europe. What track the migrants follow I am unable to state, though in all probability the majority make 
the land towards the more northern portions of the British Isles, but two or throe having been secured on the 
light-ships off the east coast during the seasons I was in eorrespondenoe with the crews. Early in Aj)iil 1873 
a couple of wings were reeeived from tlie ‘ Lynn Well these had been taken on board during the latter part 
of the winter. 
The Missel-Thrush is well able to withstand the rigour of our winters, unless the weather should prove 
unusually severe. On December 9, 1882, a pair of these birds settled to some food provided for the Blaekbirds 
and Thrushes in our garden, and kept the starving pensioners, for whom the feast was intended, at bay 
till their own hunger was appeased. It appears at all times a bold and forward bird ; its jaunty and upright 
mode of progression on a lawn at once proclaims the species, even if the clear and well-defined markings on 
the breast are not sufficient guide. 
The note of this Thrush is wild and remarkably attraetive, being frequently heard when every other songster 
