MISSEL THRUSH. 
79 
/NCESS ORES. 
DENTfROSTRES. 
MERULIDJE. 
MISSEL THRUSH. 
Turdus viscivorus. 
PLATE XXIII. FIG. I. 
The Missel Thrush, at all other times a very shy 
and wary bird, seen only at a distance, or heard pouring 
forth its peculiarly wild, full note from the top of some 
high tree, becomes quite familiar in the spring, approaches 
our orchards and gardens, and makes its nest, which re¬ 
sembles that of the blackbird, about the middle of March, 
in plantations of fir or in single trees of oak, apple, &c., 
placing it usually at the first divarication of the branches, 
ten or fifteen feet above the ground. I know of no bird 
that seems at times to have so little idea of concealing 
its nest as the Missel Thrush ; it is sometimes scarcely 
possible to pass by it without discovery; it is formed of 
large quantities of straw, matting stolen from the garden, 
wool, and grass, which are frequently left dangling down 
on all sides, as though the nest had been torn to pieces; 
a little moss is sometimes used; it is then cemented with 
mud, and afterwards lined with fine dry grass. I have 
seen a nest of this bird the foundation of which was 
mud, strongly cemented to, and nearly encircling, the 
branches between which it was placed. 
The female lays four or five eggs, differing a good deal 
in size as well as in the ground colour, which varies from 
a greenish to a reddish tint; they are always easily known 
from the eggs of any other bird. 
