short; the second feather shorter than the third or the fourth, which are the
longest. Feet with the tarsus longer than the middle toe; the outer toe connected
with the middle toe at the base.
T h e M is s e l T h r u s h is one of the largest of the British
species of Thrush, and though not very numerous anywhere,
is yet very generally diffused, as its range in this
country, to be hereafter quoted, will evince. It is rather
a shy bird, frequenting small woods, and the high trees in
hedges bounding large meadows; but during the breeding-
season it becomes bold and quarrelsome, driving away the
smaller birds in all directions from its haunts, so much
so as in Wales, according to Pennant, to have acquired the
name of Penn y llwyn, or, master of the coppice. It is
resident in this country all the year, and the male commences
his song very early in the season, sometimes in February.
His strain, which is something like that of the
Blackbird, but not so good in quality of tone, is repeated
many times in succession, and generally from the top of
some lofty oak, beech, or fir tree ; but he has been occasionally
observed to sing while on the wing, and from a
habit of giving his song frequently both before and during
the occurrence of wind and rain, the name of Storm-cock
is a well-known appellation for the Missel Thrush. It is
also called the Holm Thrush, probably owing to its partiality
to the Oak, from the top of which this Thrush will
sometimes continue to repeat its song for an hour together,
and occasionally also has its nest in the oak—
“ The fruitful Olive, and the Platane round ;
The carver Holm ;* the Maple seldom inward sound.”
S penser.
A good botanist has reminded me that the red berries
borne by the plant named Butcher’s broom, Ruscus aculeatus,
which grows on bushy commons, are called Holm-berries ;
* The Holm oak, the evergreen oak, Quercus ilex.
and as the Missel Thrush is a decided feeder on berries
generally, it may have acquired the name of Holm Thrush
from feeding on the Holm berry.
This bird is not observed to be partial to low flat
land, near water, to which the word Holm or Holme is also
applied.
The Missel Thrush is one of the earliest of our breeders,
beginning to build in April, and fixes its nest in the fork of a
branch of a tree, frequently that of an apple tree in an orchard.
The nest is composed externally of lichen, moss, dry grass,
and coarse stems of other plants. This outside framework
is coated internally with a layer of mud, and this again is
covered with a lining of fine grasses. The nest is sometimes
very artfully concealed by 'assimilating the colour of
the materials to that of the branch on which it is placed;
but, on the contrary, it is sometimes placed in the most
conspicuous and exposed situations, so that it is scarcely
possible to pass the nest without discovering it. The eggs
are four or five in number, of a greenish white colour,
spotted with red brown; sometimes the ground colour is
reddish white, spotted with dark red brown; the length
one inch three lines, the breadth eleven lines, but occasionally
varying in size. The female while sitting exhibits much
of the boldness of character observed at that season in the
male, and has been known to fly at the face of a man who
disturbed her. Two broods are produced in the season, and
during autumn and winter small parties may be seen together,
probably composed of the parent birds and their young birds
of the year. •
The flight of the Missel Thrush is rapid, but irregular
and uneven, being performed by a succession of jerks. Its
food is various soft-bodied animals, as worms, slugs, &c. ;
some fruit in the season ; and it is also a most decided feeder
on berries of all sorts, including those of the misseltoe,