MISSEL T H R U S H.
middle and sides oblong a n d transverse, and lower down smaller;
hack, greyish or yellowish olive brown, lighter on the lower part.
The wings, of eighteen quills, which extend to half the length of
the tail, and expand to the width of one foot seven inches and a
half, have the first very small, the second about equal to the fifth,
the third and fourth the longest, and equal to each other in
length; underneath, the wings are grey; greater and lesser wing
coverts, deep greyish brown, edged with a lighter shade; primaries,
secondaries, and tertiaries, deep brown, tinted with grey, narrowly
margined with greyish yellow on the outer webs; greater and lesser
under wing coverts, pure white or greyish white, much observable
when tin' bird is on the wing; axillary feathers also white. The
tail, which is rather long and slightly rounded, is greyish brown, the
feathers somewhal margined on the outer edge with yellowish, and the
two outer ones more or less tipped with white or greyish white,
the outermost one also white on the inner web; underneath, it is
grey; the under tail coverts have two longitudinal dusky bauds, their
middle part and tip white, and the margins pale yellowish. Legs and
toes, pale reddish or yellowish brown; claws, brownish black. In
summer the plumage becomes considerably worn and faded: the moult
commences towards the end of summer, and is completed by the end
of Noi ember.
The female is nearly equal to the male in size, and a little paler in
colour. Length, ten inches and rather over three quarters to eleven
inches; the breast is paler than in the male; the wings expand to
the width of one loot si\ or seven inches.
In the young, the hill is light reddish brown, the upper mandible
duskj ; head and crown, pale greyish yellowish brown, with a white
spot in the centre of each feather; neck on the hack, and nape, pale
yellowish brown, with a yellowish grey mark in the centre of each
feather, and the tip dark brown; chin, white: throat and breast, pale
yellowish, the latter with a triangular-shaped brownish black mark on
the tip of the feathers; back, pale yellowish brown, with a yellowish
irrei mark in ¡he centre of each feather, and the tip dark brown.
(Jreater wing coverts, brown, with broad edges of pale yellowish
buff; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, brown, all the latter broadly
margined with pale yellowish buff, Legs and toes, light reddish
brown; claws, brownish. At the first moult, which is completed by
the end of November, the adult plumage is assumed.
White and pied varieties have occasionally occurred. A young bird
of a pure white colour, with light yellow legs and beak, was shot by
Mr. llames in his garden at llcavitree, near Exeter, ou the 8th. of
MISSEL THRVSII. 43
July, 1851. Mr. Macgillivray mentions one preserved in the museum
of the University of Edinburgh, of which the upper parts resembled
those of a young Missel Thrush, while on the lower black was the
predominant colour, and although there were irregular light-coloured
markings on the neck and breast, there were none of those which are
so characteristic of the genus. .Some have been met with of a light
chocolate colour.
There is only one moult in the year.
The plate is from a capital design by the Rev. R. P. Aliugton.