THE THRUSH. 
grass, shavings, rags, paper, &c. The inside of it is lined with 
mud, carefully plastered, and over this is placed some soft 
grasses. White, of Selborne, says he has seen f the nest of 
the missel thrush as large as an ordinary hat, and very scien- 
tifically made ; and another well-known naturalist makes men- 
tion of one of these nests he saw in the body of an old hat, 
that had probably been flung into the tree by some traveller. 
“ At first,” says he, “ it hardly looked like a nest ; but there 
were a few bits of grass lying over the brim that had a very 
suspicious aspect, and, on climbing the tree, the old hat was | 
found to have been made the basis of a warm nest, with the j 
proper complement of eggs.” The nest of this bird is easily 
attained, as it is generally built in conspicuous places. The 
missel thrush lays four or five eggs; they are of a greenish 
white, spotted with dark reddish brown. 
The Eedwihg Thrush. — The redwing thrush has been j 
treated by most writers as a very inferior song-bird. Bechstein, 
a reliable and accurate naturalist, in speaking of this bird, 
says : — “ They make, 
indeed, a twittering 
noise, but this cannot 
be called a song. It 
is scarcely for the sake 
of its song that it would 
be kept; but in other 
respects they are very 
tame and pleasant 
birds.” It would seem, 
however, that the above 
authority did not catch 
the redwing doing its 
best (as its song is vari- 
egated, and often, as he says, little better than “ a twittering ”); 
for another eminent naturalist remarks of this bird, “ It is one 
of the finest songsters even among its own melodious group, 
rivalling the nightingale in the full sweet tones of its flexible 
voice. Sometimes the bird sings alone, seated on a favourite 
perch, but it often prefers lifting up its voice in concert with 
its companions, and fills the air with its harmonious sounds.” 
Another good authority, Mr. Hewitson, describes the song of 
the redwing as “ a loud, wild, and delicious melody.” Like 
the nightingale, this bird frequently sings long after sunset. 
It is a native of Northern Europe ; to be found principally 
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