overlooked is from the fact that the birds leave so quietly, and that the Red-wings take their place
and are mistaken for them.
“ At feeding-time in early morning and evening the actions of the Song-Thrush may be best
observed. Watch him hop cautiously from the laurels, just venturing a yard or so upon the lawn,
and, with body crouching low amongst the grass, stand motionless for a few moments as if fearful of
being discovered so far out in the open. Note well his elegant and sprightly form, his neat trim
figure, his richly spotted breast, and large bright eye, as he sits so wary, yet unconscious of your
presence. See him at last hop quickly forward and pull out a worm with a jerk from its hole in
the earth, and swallow it at once. Not a sound escapes him as he hops hither and thither in search
of worms, grubs, and snails, or snaps now and then at a passing fly. But your careless movements
have alarmed him § he crouches low and timid for a moment, and then takes himself off to the cover
whence he came. Although the Song-Thrush does not feed on berries so much as the Blackbird or
the Fieldfare, still it eats them freely in autumn and early spring, especially those of the niountain-
ash, the hawthorn, and the wild rose. The Song-Thrush is not so much a fruit feeder as the true
Ouzels. He eats a few of the wild fruits of the woods, such as the blackberry, raspberry, and wild
strawberry, and even visits the garden in c.herry-time ; but his food is far more animal than vegetable.
The Song-Thrush is a large feeder on the snails whose pretty shells are found in almost every
hedgerow. In some retired situation you may not unfrequently find little heaps of shell-fragments near
large stones and under the hedges. These shells have been broken by the Song-Thrush to obtain the
snails within them, and are a silent proof of the bird’s usefulness. This bird obtains much of its food
amongst the withered leaves and marshy places in woods and shrubberies, and in the autumn
frequents the tumip-fields and cabbage-beds in search of snails and grubs. At this season of the
year the fields of white turnips especially abound with Song-Thrushes, and you may sometimes flush
them at every step. These birds are on migration, only resting here on their journey, and in a few
days at most will be again on their way to their winter-quarters. In hay-time the Song-Thrush
frequents the newly mown grass-lands near its favourite haunts in search of worms and insects. In
all parts of the field they may be seen, some sitting upon the newly mown swathes, others digging
away amongst the short herbage. To see them now, the inexperienced observer would think them
gregarious birds; but such is not the case, and, as soon as its wants are supplied, each returns to its
haunts again, alone and solitary as it came.
“ The Song-Thrush delights to sing when the soft summer showers are falling. He will perch
among the branches under the broad leaves, or sometimes under a projecting rock, and there warble
for hours. He has also been known to sing most vigorously during severe thunderstorms.
“ The Song-Thrush is a remarkably tame and confiding bird. It is their music which make
him and the Sky-Lark so prominent. At most times of the year he is a skulking bird; • but as soon
as the first signs of the coming spring warn him to choose a mate, he forgets his life of seclusion.
Perching on the topmost branches of trees and shrubs, even on walls and other exposed situations,
he then fills the air with his rich and powerful notes—notes so indescribably beautiful, so varied,
and continued for such a length of time, as to irresistibly arrest the attention and win the warmest
admiration. A peculiarity in the song of this bird, which distinguishes it from the songs of other
Thrushes, is that it constantly repeats itself. No sooner has it uttered three or four notes, than,
apparently pleased with the combination, it instantly repeats them. Then it tries another quite
different combination, which it as constantly repeats. The song has not the rich full melody of that
of the Blackbird; but it is infinitely more varied and generally more prolonged. The call and
alarm notes of the Song-Thrush are somewhat varied. Its call-note is a peculiar low cry, something
like a Red-wing’s ; its note when alarmed is a harsh guttural cry, more like a low scream than
any thing e lse ; and its alarm-notes^when its nest is approached, or when disturbed at roost, are harsh
chattering cries, almost like those of the Mistle-Thrush, yet uttered more rapidly, and perhaps more
metallic in sound.
i One of the first birds, after winter has passed, to cross a twig as the beginning of its nest is
the Song-Thrush. March has scarcely arrived ere we notice the first rude foundation of this
charming songster’s cradle. We find it in every species of evergreen far more frequently than
amongst the branches of deciduous trees :—in the trailing ivy growing on walls or rocks or up the
trunks of trees at various' heights from the ground; in the dark-mantled yew, the laurel, and,
perhaps most frequently of all, in the green branches of the holly. It is also placed on the ground
on banks, in whitethorn trees and hedgerows, and more rarely on walls. A favourite situation is
against the trunk of a tree, upon a bunch of little branches that partially conceal it. Here the bird
may. often be seen sitting close, with tail pointing one way and beak the other, each at the same
angle to the plane of the nest, and you may pass almost under it or even catch the bird’s eye if you
walk quietly past, without causing it to leave,its eggs, The nest is a bulky structure, and composed
outwardly of dry grass, with generally a few twigs and sometimes a little moss. This grass-formed
nest is then lined with a thick coating of mud or clay, and sometimes cow’s dung, with decayed
wood as a final lining. As the Song-Thrush is the only Thrush that, lines its nest in this peculiar
manner, a detailed-description of the process may not be out of place, Decaying fences and tree-
rcots, or rotten branches torn from the trees by the wintry blasts, are the source from which the bird
obtains a supply of this material. When her nest has arrived at a certain stage, the hen bird repairs
to this decaying wood for the means of completing her handiwork. She chooses those logs, fences, or
roots already well saturated with moisture ; or failing to find them in this state, she moistens the wood
in the nearest water. Bit by bit it is conveyed to her nest, and there, by the aid of pressure, she
moulds it with her body, forming a lining in some instances an eighth of an inch in thickness, and
which, from the warmth of the sitting bird, soon becomes hard and dry. Nests are, however, met
with where this lining is very scanty—probably from the scarceness of decaying wood. When
finished the nest is usually left for a day or so to dry ere the first egg is deposited. Several days are
employed in its construction, although in rare instances it is begun and finished in a single day.
“ The eggs of the Song-Thrush are four or five in number, and may be readily distinguished
from those of any other species of British bird. They are of a beautiful clear greenish blue, marked
with small spots of a deep rich brown approaching to black. Eggs of this bird vary considerably,
both in size and markings. Many eggs (doubtless the production of the older birds) are exceptionally
large; others more resemble the Red-wing’s in size. Some eggs (though these are rare) are spotless;
others are very richly spotted and blotched with reddish brown and various tints of purplish grey.
Eggs that are boldly blotched never have the colouring-matter so intense as those on which the
markings are small. They vary in length from 1T6 to 0-95 inch, and from 0-9 to 0‘7 inch in breadth.
“ The Song-Thrush is a very close sitter, often remaining upon her charge until touched by the
hand of some prying naturalist. Her conduct when disturbed from the nest is similar to that of the
Mistle-Thrush; her harsh cries and active motions, with those of her mate, awaken the silent woods,
and speak most plainly of the anxiety of the birds for their treasure. Both birds sit upon the eggs
and young, and tend the latter for a short time after they have, left the nest. The Song-Thrush
rears two, and occasionally three, broods in the year, a fresh nest in all cases being built for the
purpose.”
The following is Seebohm’s description of the plumages of Turdus musicys in the fifth volume
of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds ’ (p. 192) :•—
“ Adult male, in autumn 'plumage. General colour of the upper parts olive-brown; lores buffish
brown; ear-coverts buff, with black tips; eye-stripe buffish white, very indistinct, and soon losing
itself behind the eye; wings brown, with pale ochraceous-brown margins to the outer webs; median