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MANUAL OF BRITISH BIRDS. 
THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 
Turdus Vescivorus, Linnaeus. 
“ The Missel-Thrush, the largest indigenous species of the genus, 
has, owing to the increase of plantations during the present century, 
extended its breeding-range northward to Caithness and Sutherland, 
and to most of the Hebrides ; though to the Orkneys it is only a 
straggler, and has not yet been recorded from the Shetlands. 
Unknown in Ireland until about the year 1800, it is now a resident 
and increasing species there ; while in England and Wales it is of 
general distribution, being commoner in the wooded districts. 
Migration takes place from the colder portions of our islands in 
autumn and winter, when large flocks arrive from the Continent. 
It breeds from Bodo in Norway southward, throughout the suitable 
portions of temperate Europe to the extremity of the Spanish 
Peninsula, and even in Northern Africa ; eastward, in Turkey, the 
Caucasus, the mountain forests of Asia Minor, Turkestan, and the 
north-western Himalayas up to 9,000 feet: in the latter it attains its 
palest colour and largest dimensions, and was formerly distinguished 
as T. Hodgsorii. In temperate Siberia it is found eastward to Lake 
Baikal; migrating in winter to Northern India, Persia, and Africa 
north of the Sahara. 
In the south of England the Missel-Thrush sometimes begins to 
breed in February, and even in the north it frequently has eggs in 
March. The nest, which when placed in a wide fork of a tree has a 
considerable foundation of mud, is lined with dry grasses and composed 
