Birds, 243 



to be a very awkward matter. A song thrush will devour 

 five or six snails before a blackbird can swallow one.* 



Though the fieldfare remains plentiful here until late in 

 April, I do not think it ever sings in these parts. Its usual 

 note, sue, sue, sue, is all that I have ever heard from this 

 species ; and though a little singing may appear sometimes to 



* [ We looked out, and saw a thrush, with its beak thrust into 



a snail shell, standing by a garden pot, which was sunk in the ground to its 

 rim. The bird had ceased for a minute from its labour; and now again 

 began whacking the unhappy snail against the flower-pot, in order to break 

 the shell ; which, with the greater portion of its inhabitant, hung dangling 

 from his beak. The exertions of the thrush were surprising ; his whole 

 body shook with the vigour with which he carried on the assault and bat- 

 tery ; and it soon enabled him to draw forth another shred of the snail : 

 this he ate, and again returned to the attack, beating it for at least a dozen 

 times, when more of the mangled wretch was dragged out, and despatched. 

 The next essay of the bird did not appear to please him ; for he left the 

 garden pot, and carried his prey to a sharp stone, against which he recom- 

 menced beating it. The stone was, perhaps, loose, and did not afford the 

 required resistance : instinct, therefore, (was it not reason ?) induced him 

 to return to his first resisting medium. Again, then, were we amused by 

 the sagacity of the bird ; and our sympathies excited by the sufferings of 

 the lacerated snail, which was thus drawn out bit by bit, and ultimately 

 devoured. — Campanella. Berkshire. Received Jan. 9. 1834. — All the spe- 

 cies of T'urdus, or thrush, the blackbird (7'. ikferula) included, collectively 

 destroy a great quantity (Mr. Biyth has, above, stated which of the species 

 destroys the most) of the shelled snails. The periods in which they most 

 destroy them are, I think, during the frosts of winter, and through July 

 and August. In winter, after a night or two sharply frosty, with just a 

 sprinkling of snow on the ground, it is pleasing to stroll beside hedge- 

 rows, and see the Turdi starting in and out, on the face of the hedge- 

 banks, and between the base of the stems of the hedges, in search of 

 the snails. If you proceed slowly, a smart reiterated tapping, not loud, 

 but obvious, is heard at uncertain intervals, as the Turdi may find their 

 prey. This they break, not wherever found, but on some stone fixed firmly 

 with one face exposed in the bank's side, and, I think, station themselves 

 below the stone : I have, in my own vocabulary, called such stones, chosen 

 of the thrushes, the thrushes' chopping-blocks. These birds, through July 

 and August, explore hedgerows, orchards, and gardens with great diligence 

 for snails, and kill vast numbers of them. The hard texture^ at this season^ 

 of paths and roadways, makes these sufficient chopping-blocks for the birds, 

 whose havoc is shown by the many empty shells then met with in every 

 path ; for they at this time do not usually break the shell into pieces, but 

 peck a hole through the last and larger coil. I have, to myself, sought to ac- 

 count for the Turdi consuming more snails in July and August than at other 

 times. Their doing it in frosty weather is clearly from necessity ; but in 

 July and August this cause might seem not to obtain. I have, however, 

 thought it does. The face of the earth is then invested with crops of herb- 

 age, which, I have conceived, lessen rather than enlarge these birds' scope 

 of forage ; while, of fruits, the gooseberry and the cherry are past, and the 

 autumnal fruits not ripe. The Turdi will, when need prompts, eat the 

 earthworm, when they meet with it (in part) exposed within their range. 

 For previous mentions of the agency of thrushes in consuming snails and 

 other molluscous animals, see in II. 151.; III. 193. ; 238., and notef in 

 the same page ; VI. 218. ; VII. 242. 



R 2 



