DERIVED FROM BIRDS AND FLOWERS. 175 
as a common opinion entertained by country people 
above two centuries ago ; and I must not withhold my 
own faith in its veracity, but say that I believe this 
pretty little flower to afford more certain indication of 
dryness or moisture in the air, than any of our hygrom- 
eters do. But if these be fallible criterions, we will 
notice another, that seldom deceives us. The approach 
of a sleety snow-storm, following a deceitful gleam in 
spring, is always announced to us by the loud untune- 
ful voice of the missel thrush (turdus viscivorus), as it 
takes its stand on some tall tree, like an enchanter 
calling up the gale. It seems to have no song, no voice, 
but this harsh predictive note ; and it in great measure 
ceases with the storms of spring. We hear it occasion- 
ally in autumn, but its voice is not then the prognostic 
of any change of weather. The missel-thrush is a wild 
and wary bird, keeping generally in open fields and 
commons, heaths, and unfrequented places, feeding upon 
worms and insects. In severe weather it approaches 
our plantations and shrubberies, to feed on the berry 
of the mistletoe, the ivy, or the scarlet fruit of the 
holly or the yew ; and should the redwing or the field- 
fare presume to partake of these with it, we are sure to 
hear its voice in clattering and contention with the in- 
truders, until it drives them from the place, though it 
watches and attends, notwithstanding, to its own safety. 
In April it begins to prepare its nest. This is large and 
so openly placed, as would, if built in the copse, in- 
fallibly expose it to the plunder of the magpie and the 
crow, which at this season prey upon the eggs of every 
nest they can find. To avoid this evil, it resorts to our 
gardens and our orchards, seeking protection from man, 
near whose haunts those rapacious plunderers are care- 
ful of approaching; yet they will at times attempt to 
seize upon its eggs even there, when the thrush attacks 
them and drives them away with a hawklike fury ; and 
the noisy warfare of the contending parties occasionally 
draws our attention to them. The call of the young 
birds to their parents for food is unusually disagreeable, 
and reminds us of the croak of a frog. The brood being 
reared, it becomes again a shy and wild creature* aban- 
