Missel thrush

“ In size and colouring, more especially in the spotted under parts, the fieldfare comes near enough to the missel-thrush to be sometimes confounded with it. Thus, flocks of missel-thrushes seen in autumn are sometimes mistaken for fieldfares that have come at an exceptionally early date to warn the inhabitants of these islands that the winter will be a severe one. The fieldfare is slightly less in size than the missel-thrush, and has a more variegated plumage, and when seen close at hand is a handsome bird. ”

“ Persons in Sweden afflicted with epilepsy carry with them a knife having a handle of oak mistletoe, which plant they call Thunder-besom, connecting it with lightning and fire. The thrush is the great disseminator of the parasite. He devours the berries eagerly, and soils, or "missels" his feet with their viscid seeds, conveying them thus from tree to tree, and getting thence the name of missel thrush. ”

“ Furthermore, the missel-thrush, a shy and wary bird at other times, becomes strangely trustful, and even careless, when nesting, and often builds in the neighbourhood of a house, or in an isolated tree at the roadside. When building and breeding the birds are silent, except when the nest is threatened with an attack, when they become clamorous and bold beyond most species in defence of their eggs or nestlings. ”

“ I saw in my brother-in-law's garden here a Missel-Thrush's nest with eggs, placed, not more than seven feet from the ground, on and near the end of a slender, nearly horizontal bough of a yew tree which stretched to the edge of the tennis lawn. The way the Missel Thrush has of putting away some of its shyness in the breeding season and approaching our dwelling-houses to breed is well known. Possibly in this case the slender bough was chosen as being difficult of access by cats, which are the greatest curse that the birds of Bloxham gardens suffer from. ”

“ One or two missel-thrushes generally come to the food-stand in winter and show themselves [Pg 15] expert in getting fat from the supposed sparrow-proof receptacles.
Though missel-thrushes are common their song is not familiar. It has been described as much better than a throstle's; I do not know if that is the general opinion. It certainly is simpler without the same repetition, and it has seemed to me more mellow, more like a blackbird's when I have heard it, but that is not often. ”

“ The Missel Thrush is very conservative in its choice of a site, and seldom if ever chooses any other position. When built the nest is a fairly conspicuous object, with its foundation of twigs and mud and lined with grass and hay. Towards the end of February, however, we shall one day be surprised to see a large nest in some conspicuous position, and on examination will probably discover the hen, sitting on four to six eggs of a 4 bluish colour with large reddish spots and blotches fairly evenly distributed over their surface. ”

“ The missel or mistletoe thrush, or stormcock, is the largest, exceeding the fieldfare, which comes next in size, by at least an inch in length and two inches in spread of wings. This species possesses in a marked degree all the characters that everywhere distinguish the true thrushes, which are world-wide in their range. ”

“ The female is most pugnacious during this period when any common enemy approaches too closely, nor does this pugnacity decrease so long as her offspring are still under her care. When watching her on one occasion feeding her young, who were quite able to fly and thus escape any ordinary danger, I saw a Missel-Thrush settle on a very tall elm tree some distance away and commence to jerk his tail and chatter in a perfectly harmless manner, evidently with no evil intentions. ”

“ On the continent of Europe the autumnal influx of the birds bred in the North is regarded with much interest, as has been already stated (Birds, vol. iii. p) , for they are easily ensnared and justly esteemed for the table, while their numbers make their appearance in certain districts a matter of great importance. The second species to which the name applies is distinguished as the Mistletoe-Thrush, or, by corrupt abbreviation, the Missel-Thrush. ”

“ The sparrows, again, clear the standing wheat-ears, which at a little distance look thin and disarranged, and when handled are empty.
There were many missel-thrushes about the Chace; they are fond of a wooded district. They pack together in summer and part in winter—just opposite in that respect to so many other birds, which separate in warm weather and congregate as it grows cold, so that the lower the temperature the larger the flock. In winter and spring the missel-thrushes fly alone or not more than two together. After their young have left the nest they go in small packs. ”

“ They will strike even at the human hand that touches their nest. The crow, strong as he is, they courageously drive away; but the enemy that stealthily approaches along the ground to the helpless young bird in the grass they cannot resist. On the wing they can retreat quickly if pressed; on the ground they cannot move so swiftly, and may themselves fall a prey without affording any assistance. The missel-thrushes come to the orchard frequently after the nesting season is over and before it commences. They do not seem in search of food, but alight on the trees as if to view their property. ”

“ Holyhead Breakwater L.H., great many Larks all day going E. South Stack L.H., a Thrush and a Lark caught at lantern at 2.30 A.M. Carnarvon Bay L.V., hundreds of Thrushes and Blackbirds going E. at intervals; six killed. (N., 4; B. C. V.) Nash (E.) L.H., two *Reed Buntings killed at 1.30 A.M. (N.N.W, 2; C. M.) Eddystone L.H., Lapwings, Missel Thrushes, Ring Ouzels, Fieldfares, Thrushes, Redwings, Starlings, Larks, Storm Petrels, and Sanderlings (? Dunlins) , from 8 P.M. to 5 A.M. (21st) . ”

“ Her loaded gun lay across her knees, and she had a curious smile, which made me think that the events of the night must have turned her brain. This is what she said:
"Missel-thrushes. You know them well. They're like ordinary thrushes, only larger. They're on you very much quicker. Very difficult to shoot, though they don't look it. Treacherous creatures. ”

“ Missel-thrushes, doubtless of the same family, have used the tree for many years. Though the nest is large, the young birds as they grow up soon get too big for it and fall out. This period—just before the young can fly—is the most critical in their existence, and causes the greatest anxiety to the parents. Without the resource of flight, weak and unable even to scramble fast through the long grass, betraying their presence by continually crying for food, they are exposed to dangers from every species of vermin. ”

“ There they stay all summer, often travelling southward with the sparrows in the autumn, as in the spring.
Why they should prefer coniferous trees, unless to utilize the needles for a nest, is not understood. Low trees and bushes are favorite building sites with them as with others of the family, though these thrushes disdain a mud lining to their nests. Those who have heard the olive-backed thrush singing an even-song to its brooding mate compare it with the veery's, but it has a break in it and is less simple and pleasing than the latter's. ”

“ In the New World the nearctic, or North American region, possesses several species of spotted-breasted thrushes breeding throughout its forest area. Notable among these are the wood-thrush, whose mellow, rippling music we know and love so well; the hermit, the olive-backed, the gray-cheeked, and tawny thrushes—spring and fall migrants passing through our woods in May and October. ”

“ Many conservative wood thrushes keep to their wild haunts, and it must be owned not a few liberals, that discard family traditions at other times, seek the forest at nesting time. But social as the wood thrush is and abundant, too, it is also eminently high-bred; and when contrasted with its tawny cousin, the veery, that skulks away to hide in the nearest bushes as you approach, or with the hermit thrush, that pours out its heavenly song in the solitude of the forest, how gracious and full of gentle confidence it seems! Every gesture is graceful and elegant ”

“ The rich rufous colouring of the tail proclaims him a singer of singers—a hermit thrush. We must be on the watch these days for the beautiful wood thrush, the lesser spotted veery, the well named olive-back and the rarer gray-cheeked thrush. We may look in vain among the thrushes in our bird books for the golden-crowned and water thrush, for these walkers of the woods are thrushes only in appearance, and belong to the family of warblers. ”

“ Our thrushes are all frank, open-mannered [88] birds; but the veery and the hermit build on the ground, where they may at least escape the crows, owls, and jays, and stand a good chance of being overlooked by the red squirrel and weasel also; while the robin seeks the protection of dwellings and outbuildings. For years I have not known the nest of a wood thrush to succeed. ”

“ One of the shatterings of childish impressions that age too often brings is when we learn by the books that our "merry brown thrush" is no thrush at all, but a thrasher — first cousin to the wrens, in spite of his speckled breast, large size, and certain thrush-like instincts, such as never singing near the nest and shunning mankind in the nesting season, to mention only two. ”

“ Where it goes to make a home for its greenish-blue speckled eggs in some low bush at the northern end of its range, it bursts into song, but except in the nesting grounds its voice is never heard. Mr. Bradford Torrey, who heard it singing in the White Mountains, describes the song as like the thrush's in quality, but differently accented: "Wee-o-wee-o-tit-ti-wee-o!"
In New England and New York this thrush is most often seen during its autumn migrations. As it starts up and perches upon a low branch before you, it appears to have longer legs and a broader, squarer tail than its congeners. ”

“ Where mountain streams dash through tracts of mossy, spongy ground that is carpeted with fern and moss, and overgrown with impenetrable thickets of underbrush and tangles of creepers — such a place is the favorite resort of both the water thrushes. With a rubber boot missing, clothes torn, and temper by no means unruffled, you finally stand over the Louisiana thrush's nest in the roots of an upturned tree immediately over the water, or else in a mossy root-belaced bank above a purling stream. ”

“ That temperamental bird always chooses peculiarly disagreeable morasses for his home. In the roots of an overturned tree by the side of the deepest and most stagnant pool that he can conveniently find, his nest is built, unlike his twin-brother, the Louisiana water thrush, who chooses the bank of some lonely stream. On that day, while ploughing through mud and water and mosquitoes, I came upon a wood thrush’s nest beautifully lined with dry green moss, with a scrap of snowy birch-bark for its marker. ”

“ Because of his brown color and his speckled breast, the Brown Thrasher has often been erroneously called the Brown Thrush. Careful observation reveals many points of difference. He is three or four inches longer than our common thrushes—in fact, his tail alone is only about 21⁄2 inches shorter than the entire body of the veery or the hermit thrush; his bill is almost four times as long as theirs and is decidedly curved. Instead of dark, thrush-like eyes, he has pale yellow ones that give him an uncanny appearance.
He is not a dweller in woods, but, like the catbird, prefers thickets. ”

“ My next jaunt to this hollow took place on the twenty-seventh, when, to my surprise, a hermit thrush was seen in a clump of bushes and saplings—a bird that I supposed had been sunning himself for at least a month in the genial South. While tramping about trying to get another view of the unconventional thrush, I frightened a winter wren from a cluster of weeds and bushes. My! how alarmed he was! Uttering a loud chirp, he darted down to the center of the stream and slipped into a little cave formed by ice and snow frozen over a clump of low bushes. ”

“ So loud, so loud the thrushes kept their calling,
Plover or blackbird never heeding me;
So loud the millstream too kept fretting, falling,
O’er bar and bank in brawling, boisterous glee.
So loud, so loud; yet blackbird, thrush nor plover,
Nor noisy millstream, in its fret and fall,
Could drown the voice, the low voice of my lover,
My lover calling through the thrushes’ call.
“Come down, come down!” he called, and straight the thrushes
From mate to mate sang all at once, “Come down!” ”

“ One of my thrushes has a white feather in his wing; he was hatched out in a big syringa which stands above the bowling-green; and though I have observed the birds all about my few acres carefully enough I have never seen this particular thrush anywhere but on the lawn. He never seems even to cross the wall into the garden; he has a favourite bush to roost in, and another where he sometimes sings: at times he beats along the privet hedge, or in the broad border, but he generally hops about the lawn, and I do not think he has ever ventured beyond it. He works hard for his living too ”

“ Next to Rhus the fruit most eaten was the dogwood berry, found in 34 stomachs, yet from a human estimate these berries are distasteful and contain such large seeds that they afford but very little actual food.
Summary.—The hermit thrush, as it name indicates, is of solitary habits and neither seeks human companionship nor molests cultivated products. It destroys nothing indirectly helpful to man, as beneficial insects, but aids in the destruction of the myriad hosts of insect life which at all times threaten vegetation. ”