Turdus viscivorus, LINNÆUS; La Draine, BUFFON; Die
Misteldrossel, BECHSTEIN.
This is the largest of our thrushes, being in length eleven inches,
three and a half of which belong to the tail. The beak is one inch in
length, sharp, dark brown, with the lower base and opening yellow; the
iris is brown; the shanks an inch high, and of a pale dusky yellow. All
the upper part of the body is a brownish gray, with a reddish tint on
the lower part of the back and rump; the sides of the head and the rest
of the under part of the body are of a pale yellow, with blackish
triangular spots on the breast, and oval spots in all other parts.
The female is generally lighter in all the colours.
HABITATION.--When wild the missel thrush is found all over Europe, but
more in the north than the south. It lives in forests, especially
those of the mountains, and prefers those of fir to oak and beech. In
Thuringia it is a bird of passage, disappearing in December and
returning in the month of February, provided the weather is fine[65].
In confinement it is common to assign it a grated corner of the room
unless a cage is preferred, which must be at least three feet and a
half long, and nearly as many high, a size necessary for it to take
the exercise suited to its vivacity and petulance, without injuring
its feathers. It would be still better if it could be allowed, as
other birds of its size, an aviary or room to itself, where its
copious excrements would be less troublesome.
FOOD.--When wild it feeds on insects and earth-worms, which it finds
in abundance in fields and swamps during the spring and summer; in
autumn and winter berries of all sorts make a great addition.
In confinement it is not dainty. The two universal pastes are very
well liked, but it will put up with plain oatmeal, or even bran
moistened with water. It is thus that our bird-fanciers feed it
throughout the year, as well as many other large birds caught in
traps, which they are obliged to keep as a lure for the snare. It is
true, that if this meagre diet is sufficient to keep it alive, it
will hardly serve to enliven it and make it sing; for this purpose it
must be better fed, with bread and milk, meat, and other dishes
served at table, none of which it refuses; and it must also be
allowed to bathe, since nothing does it more good, or enlivens it so
much.
BREEDING.--Its nest, which it places higher or lower in the trees of
the forest, is formed at bottom of herb-stalks and lichens, in the
middle of earth, and in the interior of mosses, fine roots and hay:
it lays twice a year, generally each time four greenish white eggs, a
little speckled with violet and maroon. The young birds are gray
above and very much spotted under, with a wide edge of rusty yellow
on the wing feathers. Much less docile and susceptible of instruction
than the blackbird, they hardly remember any little thing which they
hear continually, but they become so familiar as to sing without
difficulty on the hand. They are fed with white bread soaked in
boiled milk.
DISEASES.--The commonest disorders of this bird, are an obstruction of
the rump gland, constipation, and atrophy[66].
MODE OF TAKING.--These birds are taken in autumn with nets and snares,
with berries for the bait, and they are caught in great numbers. They
may also be taken in February, by placing under the trees on which
the mistleto grows, perches with limed twigs. They may also be caught
in the water-traps at sunset. Those which are yellowish under the
body, being males, are chosen for confinement. During the first days
of captivity, they are savage, sulky, and often refuse to eat, so
that many perish in this way; those which are saved soon repay the
trouble by their songs and familiarity.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--Perched on the top of a tree in the woods, the
missel thrush begins, in the month of February, to utter his
melancholy but musical warblings, consisting of five or six broken
strains, and continues singing for four or five months. As his song
is too loud for the sitting-room, this bird should be placed in a
large hall, or his cage should be hung outside a window. He lives in
captivity from ten to twelve years. His call very much resembles
"_iis, r, r, r_."