four young ones nearly fledged. Having returned in the course o f a few hours, I again peeped into it, when
to my astonishment I found one of them cut in the breast, and almost at the point of death. I could not
imagine what had been the cause of this sudden catastrophe. The gardener, however, told me that, whilst
he was watching his bees, he heard the male and female Thrushes uttering the most doleful screams. He
ran immediately to the spot, in the expectation o f seeing a cat or a weasel, but beheld a Missel-Thrush in .the
very act of killing one of their brood. So determined was it in carrying into effect its daring attempt at
murder that he got within a few yards o f it before it observed him.”
In external appearance the two sexes of the Missel-Thrush are so much alike that it is quite impossible
to say which is one and which the oth er; dissection must therefore be resorted to, to determine the
question satisfactorily. Freshly moulted birds are exceedingly rich in colour, particularly in the wash of
buff which intersects the spotting of the under surface; after a time, however, this delicate hue fades away
until the parts it pervaded become nearly white. The young, ju st after leaving the nest, are even more
beautiful than the adults, each feather of the upper surface being ornamented in the centre with a tear-drop-
like marking of deep buff, terminating in a crescent o f brown, the remainder o f the feather being grey, and
the secondaries and tail-feathers conspicuously margined with reddish buff. These feathers, however, are
soon cast off, and new ones assumed, and before December arrives the adults and their offspring closely
assimilate in appearance. In the youthful state of plumage above described, the Missel-Thrush has been
mistaken by many persons for White’s Thrush—a very different bird, both in structure and markings.
Many papers have been written, and much discussion has ensued, respecting the structure of the nest, some
authors stating that it has an interlining of mud between the materials forming the exterior and in te rio r;
while others deny its existence : perhaps both are r ig h t; for the bird is, doubtless, greatly influenced by the
nature of the materials a t hand. Mr. Joseph H. Ellis, of Leicester, in a communication to ‘ The Field ’ of
May 30th, 1863, says, “ I have sent three nests to your office, which you will find have mud in the foundation.
As far as my observation goes, they always use mud when the nest is laid on a thick bough, or
placed in a large fork of a tree. It seems to be used to plaster the first p art of the nest to the branches, to
hold the loose materials together. I have seen nests among thin branches where no mud was used.”
“ These nests,” remarks the editor of 'T h e Field,’ “ are very interesting, and corroborate in all respects our
correspondent’s description. There is no clay actually used in the construction of either, but, as Mr. Ellis
observes, to plaster or attach the first part o f the nest to the b ran ch ; in fact, the mud serves rather the
purpose of glue than that of a building-material.”
The nest is a large, round, cup-shaped structure, outwardly composed o f mosses, twigs, wool, grass, or
any other material a t hand, whether it be the shavings blown away from the joiner’s shop, or the lace from
a lady’s c a p ; internally the neat warm lining is composed of fine grasses. The eggs, which are four or
five in number, differ so much from those of the other members of the genus that they cannot be mistaken
for either of them : their ground-colour is a stone-white, mottled and spotted with chestnut and various
shades of brown ; in size they assimilate both to those o f the Blackbird and those of the Ring-Ousel.
The Missel-Thrush is so pugnacious during the breeding-season that it does not hesitate to attack Magpies,
Crows, and even the smaller Hawks. The late Mr. Thompson mentions that he saw one strike a Kestril
several times, and make as many more attempts to do s o ; but the Hawk, by suddenly rising, escaped the
coming blows. On the other hand, it not unfrequently happens that small birds evince their dislike o f the
Missel-Thrush by mobbing and following it as they do the Cuckoo and the Sparrow-Hawk.
During the very severe month of January 1867, when all England was under snow and frost, birds generally
retired to the more western and, usually, milder climate of Cornwall; but even there the vast assemblages
found a country equally inhospitable. Enfeebled by cold and want of food, the smaller birds could
not continue their journey southwards, but perished by thousands. The Rooks, Starlings, Blackbirds,
Thrushes, Fieldfares, and Redwings suffered severely; but no species succumbed to the rigours o f the
season so completely as the Missel-Thrushes; they were destroyed to a bird. During my daily walks
through the woods and shrubberies o f the Tregothnan domain I frequently observed their dead bodies
lying around, half-picked and eaten by other birds ; aud I do not remember a more distressing loss o f bird-
life than those few days occasioned ; but as this has been alluded to in another part o f this work, I need say
no more on the subject here.
The Plate represents an adult and two young birds just after leaving the nest, on a branch of the spruce-
fir in flower.