7 1 
Perching Birds. 
The Mistle-Thrush. 
under wing-coverts. It is somewhat remark- 
able that a delicate bird, like the Mistle- 
Thrush, for, despite its bravado, which gains 
for it the name of the ‘ Storm-cock,’ it 
succumbs to a hard season almost as quickly 
as the Redwing, should be gradually extend- 
ing its range in Great Britain, notwithstanding 
the checks which some of our severe winters 
have imposed upon it. On the continent of 
Europe it is generally distributed, and it is 
found as far east as Lake Baikal, while it also 
breeds in the mountains of Central Asia and 
in the higher ranges of the Himalayas. 
Excepting in the breeding-season, when the 
Mistle-Thrush makes its nest very early in 
the year and is, as a rule, easily discovered 
by its clamourous protest against intrusion 
upon its chosen domain, the bird is a shy and 
timid species, but in stormy weather it mounts to the top of a tree, and shouts its 
melody, which is vastly inferior to that of the Song-Thrush. The nest is of the 
usual Thrush-like type and is placed in the bough of a small elm or in an evergreen 
bush, but the most beautiful examples of the bird’s architecture are to be seen 
when the nest is built in an old lichen-covered fruit-tree, when the outside of the 
nest is also covered with lichen so as to 
assimilate to its surroundings. The eggs 
are four or five in number, and are 
distinguished by the stone grey or clay 
ground-colour, with markings of reddish 
brown, and under-lying spots of light 
brown or dull grey. 
This is the handsomest 
of the European Thrushes, 
and is a winter visitor to 
Great Britain. It has white 
axillaries and under wing- 
coverts, like the Mistle-Thrush, but far 
more distinct, and this white is a con- 
spicuous feature as the bird sits up in the 
sunshine or flies through the wintry air. 
It is found breeding throughout northern 
Europe, and in central Russia and eastern 
THE 
FIELDFARE. 
(Tttrdus 
pilaris.) 
The Fieldfare, 
