A CATALOGUE
OF
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
Order PASSE RES.
Family TURDIDAE.
Mistle Thrush: Turdus viscivorus. Locally, "Mavis"
(Orsett).
A common resident in all districts.
Round Orsett, it is always known as the " Mavis " (Sackett), a name which in
other parts of Essex and elsewhere, is usually reserved for the Song Thrush.
Song Thrush : Turdus musicus. Locally, "Mavis."
An abundant resident.
Ray, writing to Dr. Lister, on April 4th, 1676, says (Philosophical Letters, p. 137),
thrushes were then called " Me-
visses " in Essex, and he be-
lieves elsewhere. From this it
would appear that the name,
which is now seldom heard
except in the north of Eng-
land, was then more general.
In the Epping district it is
" abundant in the autumn, but
almost absent in mid-winter "
(Buxton—47. 85). In the
Audley End Collection (24)
is a white variety which lived
for some time in the aviary

SONG THRUSH, 1/4
(After Bewick.)
there and died in 1847. On

May 10th, 1878, Mr. R. W.
Christy found a nest containing two eggs at Boynton Hall, built in the driving-
wheel of a corn mill which had been used only five days before. Among the many
strange sites for birds' nests which have been recorded the following, taken from
the Chelmsford Chronicle of May 23rd, 1879, deserves mention :—
"At the Mistley Railway Station, a break-van is kept for the purpose of