Country Life
By IAN NIALL Two years ago a pair of missel-thrushes made a nest in the top of a"tree outside my house. It is not the sort of tree usually chosen by missel-thrushes, for it is a stocky, poll-cropped tree that could be easily scaled. I could look right down into the nest from my bedroom window and the birds made such a harsh chorus that I was glad when they finally took their brood away. I wasn't surprised that they didn't return last year. The situation is too public and the missel- thrush really favours a more elevated fork in a tree that prevents the curious from intruding. The pair that nested beneath the level of my window came from a nest across the road where the trees are taller and more to their liking. A month ago I noticed jackdaws taking evasive action and scramb- ling and fluttering through the tops of one of these tall trees. I got my glasses to see what harried them and, as I might have guessed, found that the missel- thrushes were staking a claim. For days they drove off all comers and now they are nesting again in their old haunts. We cannot hear the harsh cry so well and we aren't sorry not to have them within thirty feet of the bedroom, for one can have too much of the missel-thrush!
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