"Missel" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... resemble those of the tyrant-birds in being chiefly duets, male and female singing excitedly in piercing or resonant voices, and with much action. The habit varies somewhat in the cachalote, a Patagonian species of the genus Homorus, about the size of the missel-thrush. Old and young birds live in a family together, and at intervals, on any fine day, they engage in a grand screaming contest, which may be heard distinctly at a distance of a mile and a half. One bird mounts ...
— The Naturalist in La Plata • W. H. Hudson
... and of Bismarck, curled like a fried whiting, in her lap. The grey road rushed smoothly backwards under the broad tyres; golden and green plover whistled in the quiet fields, starlings and huge missel thrushes burst from the wayside trees as the "Bollee," uttering that hungry whine that indicates the desire of such creatures to devour space, tore past. Mrs. Alexander wondered if birds' beaks felt as cold as her nose after they had been cleaving the air for an afternoon; at ...
— All on the Irish Shore - Irish Sketches • E. Somerville and Martin Ross
... Draine."—I quite agree with the remarks made by Professor Newton, in his edition of 'Yarrell,' as to the proper English name of the present species, and that it ought to be called the Mistletoe Thrush. I am afraid, however, that the shorter appellation of Missel Thrush will stick to this bird in spite of all attempts to the contrary. In Guernsey the local name of the Mistletoe Thrush is "Geai," by which name Mr. Metivier mentions it in his 'Dictionary of Guernsey and Norman French.' He also adds that the Jay does not ...
— Birds of Guernsey (1879) • Cecil Smith
... A bird which builds chiefly in apple- trees; I believe it is the Turdus viscivorus, or missel. ...
— The Dialect of the West of England Particularly Somersetshire • James Jennings
... May-day hush Chanteth the Missel-thrush The harp o' the heart makes answer with murmurous stirs; When Robin-redbreast sings, We think on budding springs, And Culvers when they coo ...
— Poems by Jean Ingelow, In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Jean Ingelow |
