. A history of British birds . iddle tail-feathers uniformpale brown: the remaining ten darker in the webs, butlighter at the ends, and of these the two outer pairs are thelightest. The chin and throat are white ; from the lower edgeof the under mandible descends a narrow dark streak ; theneck, breast, and all the lower surface, white, tinged on thebreast and flanks with yellow-brown, all the feathers havinga l)lack crescent-shaped tip; before the wing on each side,the brown colour of the back extends a little forward towardthe breast; anterior lower wing-coverts white at the baseand black at
. A history of British birds . iddle tail-feathers uniformpale brown: the remaining ten darker in the webs, butlighter at the ends, and of these the two outer pairs are thelightest. The chin and throat are white ; from the lower edgeof the under mandible descends a narrow dark streak ; theneck, breast, and all the lower surface, white, tinged on thebreast and flanks with yellow-brown, all the feathers havinga l)lack crescent-shaped tip; before the wing on each side,the brown colour of the back extends a little forward towardthe breast; anterior lower wing-coverts white at the baseand black at the tip; lower tail-coverts white ; tail beneathgreyish-brown, the feathers with white shafts; legs and toespale brown, the claws rather lighter. Lord Malmesburys bird measures twelve inches and ahalf, the wing from the carj)al joint to the end of the longestprimary, six inches and three eighths ; the second and fourthprimaries equal in length ; the ihivd the longest in the wing. VOL. I. L L 258 PA SSERE,^. TuRDUS viscivoRus, Linnesus*. THE MISTLETOE-THRUSH. Tardus riscirorus. The Mistletoe-Thrush is one of the largest species ofthe genus, and, though not so numerous anywhere as theSong-Thrush and Bhickbird, is yet nowadays very generallydiffused, as the evidence to be hereafter quoted will is rather a shy bird, frequenting small woods, and thehigh trees in hedges bounding large meadows; but duringthe breeding-season it becomes bold and quarrelsome, driv-ing away larger birds from its haunts, so that in Wales,according to Pennant, it has acquired the name of Pen yllirjjn, or master of the coppice. Though as a species * Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 291 (1700). MISTLETOE-THRUSH. 259 resident iu this country all the year, many certainly migratefor the winter. Of those which remain the males beginto sing very early in the season, often in January, and ifthe weather be mild, sometimes in December. The strain,which is something like that of the Blackbird, but
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