HABITATION.--When wild it frequents by preference the banks of rivers and streams in mountainous countries, and remains all the year near those whose waters flow from springs which never freeze. In confinement it has a cage like the thrush, unless it is by preference allowed to run about the room. FOOD.--When wild it feeds upon aquatic insects, worms, and even small fish, which it is said to seize by diving. In confinement it becomes insensibly accustomed to one of the universal pastes, by at first giving it worms, and the eggs of ants and flies. BREEDING.--The female lays from four to six eggs in a rather large nest, which she places in a crack of the rocks at the edge of the water, or in dikes under mill-dams, the wooden gutters of mills, or between the wings of old water-wheels which are not in use. The young may be reared on meal-worms, ants' eggs, and white bread soaked in milk. It is just as well not to take them till they are ready to fly. MODE OF TAKING.--Each pair has a chosen spot, which it seldom leaves: and they are generally seen there either on a trough, a stone, dike, or a bush growing near; by fixing close to these places limed twigs, to which are fastened worms, which writhe about and attract attention, it is very easy to catch them. As soon as one of these birds is caught and caged, he must be put in a quiet place, be fed with earth and meal-worms, and thus be gradually accustomed to the common food. ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The song of the dipper is not disagreeable; he has, indeed, some very sonorous strains, which in the distance and during winter have a very good effect. He also sings in the night. THE MISSEL THRUSH. 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].