Mistle thrush

The mistle thrush was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name. Turdus is the Latin for "thrush", and viscivorus, "mistletoe eater", comes from viscum "mistletoe" and vorare, "to devour". The bird's liking for mistletoe berries is also indicated by its English name, "mistle" being an old name for the plant. There are more than 60 species of medium to large thrushes in the genus Turdus, characterised by rounded heads, longish pointed wings, and usually melodious songs. A mitochondrial DNA study identified the mistle thrush's closest relatives as the similarly plumaged song and Chinese thrushes; these three species are early offshoots from the Eurasian lineage of Turdus thrushes after they spread north from Africa. They are less closely related to other European thrush species such as the blackbird (T. merula) which are descended from ancestors that had colonised the Canary Islands from Africa and subsequently reached Europe from there. At least eight subspecies have been proposed, but the differences between them are mainly clinal, with birds being paler and less densely spotted in the east of the range. The accepted subspecies as of 2024 are: • T. v. viscivorus, named by Linnaeus, 1758, the nominate subspecies. Europe, and western Asia east to western Siberia and southeast to northern Iran. • T. v. bonapartei, Cabanis, 1860. Central Asia, south to northern Pakistan, northwestern India, and western Nepal. • T. v. deichleri, Erlanger, 1897. Northwest Africa, Corsica, Sardinia. There is some dispute as to the boundary between T. v. viscivorus and T. v. bonapartei; some cite birds from Siberia east of the Ob as being in T. v. bonapartei, ==Description==

, Kazakhstan The mistle thrush is the largest thrush native to Europe. The nominate subspecies measures in length, The tone resembles that of the song thrush or blackbird, but compared to its relatives the mistle thrush's repertoire is less varied and the delivery is slower. The song is, however, much louder, often audible up to 2 km (2,000 yd) away. The song is given from a treetop or other elevated position mainly from November to early June. The male is most vocal in the early morning, and its tendency to sing after, and sometimes during, wet and windy weather led to the old name "stormcock". There is also a squeaky tuk contact call. ==Distribution and habitat==

The mistle thrush breeds in much of Europe and temperate Asia, although it is absent from the treeless far north, and its range becomes discontinuous in southeast Europe, Turkey and the Middle East. In these warmer southern areas, it tends to be found in the milder uplands and coastal regions. The mistle thrush is found in a wide range of habitats containing trees, including forests, plantations, hedges and town parks. In the south and east of its range, it inhabits upland coniferous woodland and the range extends above the main tree line where dwarf juniper is present. Breeding occurs at up to in the mountains of North Africa, and occasionally much higher, to . More open habitats, such as agricultural land, moors and grassy hills, are extensively used in winter or on migration. In areas of intensive farming, such as eastern England, arable land has in turn largely been abandoned in favour of built-up areas with their greater variety of green habitats. ==Behaviour==

Mistle thrushes are found as individuals or pairs for much of the year, although families forage together in late summer, Their territories are much larger than those of blackbirds or song thrushes; Breeding typically commences in mid-March in the south and west of Europe (late February in Britain), but not till early May in Finland. The eggs are incubated for 12–15 days, mainly by the female. The young are dependent on their parents for 15–20 days after fledging. Feeding Mistle thrushes feed mainly on invertebrates, fruit and berries. Animal prey include earthworms, insects and other arthropods, slugs and snails. Although the thrush normally feeds on the ground and from low bushes, the defence of this resource conserves fruit for later in the season when other food items become scarce. Conversely, in hard winters, the defender may be overwhelmed by large flocks of fieldfares, redwings or Bohemian waxwings. ==Predators and parasites==

swollen with the blood of its host|thumb The mistle thrush is predated upon by a wide variety of birds of prey, including the boreal owl, short-eared owl, tawny owl, Ural owl, Eurasian eagle-owl, golden eagle, kestrel, red kite, northern goshawk, peregrine falcon, and sparrowhawk. The eggs and chicks may be targeted by cats and corvids. Parent birds exhibit fearlessness in defence of their nests, occasionally even attacking humans. The mistle thrush is not normally a host of the common cuckoo, a brood parasite. External parasites of the mistle thrush include the hen flea, the moorhen flea, the castor bean tick and the brightly coloured harvest mite.{{cite journal |author=Falchi, Alessandro |author2=Dantas-Torres, Filipe |author3=Lorusso, Vincenzo |author4=Malia, Egidio |author5=Lia, Riccardo Paolo |author6=Otranto, Domenico |year=2012 |title=Autochthonous and migratory birds as a dispersion source for Ixodes ricinus in southern Italy |journal=Experimental & Applied Acarology |volume=58 |pages=167–174 |doi=10.1007/s10493-012-9571-8 ==Status==

The mistle thrush has an extensive distribution in Europe and western Asia, and its European breeding population is estimated at 9–22.2 million birds. When Asian breeders are added, this gives a global total of 12.2–44.4 million. It expanded rapidly into lowland and coastal areas of Europe during the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, colonising areas where it was formerly rare or absent, such as Ireland (where it first bred in 1807), Scotland and the Netherlands. The range also increased in Denmark, Norway, Hungary and Austria. ==In culture==

|upright Desiderius Erasmus's early sixteenth-century collection of Latin proverbs included Turdus malum sibi ipse cacat (the thrush himself excretes his own trouble), which refers to the use of the sticky mistletoe berries favoured by this species as an ingredient in birdlime, used to trap birds. The thrush was seen to be thus spreading the seeds of his own destruction. Mistle Thrush and Alpine Chough, by Giovanni da Udine, an artist who worked in Raphael's studio in the 16th century, was a sketch for his Bird with Garland and Fruit, and this in turn was the basis for a Raphael fresco in the Apostolic Palace. The early Renaissance poem "The Harmony of Birds" features a thrusshe (mistle thrush) singing the phrase "sanctus, sanctus", distinguishing the bird from the song thrush, the mauys or throstle. The song of the mistle thrush is also described in Thomas Hardy's "Darkling Thrush" and Edward Thomas's "The Thrush". The loud call of this common and conspicuous bird also led to many old or local names, including "screech", "shrite" and "gawthrush". Other names, including "stormcock" referred to its willingness to sing in wind and rain. "Holm thrush", "hollin cock" and "holm cock" are based on obsolete names for the holly tree, which may be defended by the thrush in winter for its berries. In Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel The Secret Garden, Dickon reassures Mary Lennox that he will keep his knowledge of the garden secret by comparing her to a mistle thrush in defence of its nest, recognising his privilege in sharing her secret: "If tha' was a missel thrush an' showed me where thy nest was, does tha' think I'd tell any one? Not me," he said. "Tha' art as safe as a missel thrush." Roy Harper's 1971 album Stormcock, featuring Jimmy Page, is titled after the species. The final verse of the Jethro Tull song "Jack-in-the-Green" from their 1977 album Songs from the Wood mentions the bird in the lines "Oh, the mistlethrush is coming. Jack, put out the light." The bird also features in the lyrics of The Decemberists' song "Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)" from their 2009 album The Hazards of Love: "Mistlethrush, Mistlethrush, Lay me down in the underbrush, My naked feet grow weary with the dusk". == Footnotes ==

• (Catalogue for the Exhibition "Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna", held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 21 January to 26 April 2009, and at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, from 5 June to 6 September 2009) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ==External links==