134 BIRDS. 



By no means a very timid bird, and allowing close 

 observation, the Common Thrush is familiar to most, and, 

 though of inconspicuous plumage, save for the speckled 



Song- breast, is easily distinguished on the lawn by 



thrush, its curious hopping gait when after worms, and 

 the long low flight for covert when flushed. Only the 

 blackbird, distinct by reason of his black back and yellow 

 bill, has such antics, indeed he runs more like a starling, 

 and has in addition a peculiar way of cocking his tail. 

 The song-thrush is of darker hue, with less grey in its 

 j)lumage, than the preceding species. 



Its food consists of w^orms, snails, seeds, wild berries, 

 and, for a very short period, ripe fruit, I watched a 

 thrush break snails on a particular stone near its nest 

 beneath my window almost every evening for nearly a 

 fortnight last May (1897). 



The familiar nest is cup-shaped, lined or plastered with 

 mud and rotten wood, and is placed at varying heights 

 in a hedge. The bird has also been known, when the 

 original nest is disturbed, to lay in a depression in the 

 earth. Eggs, 4 or 5, about i inch ; bright blue, with 

 small spots of black or dark brown. Two or three broods 

 are reared each year, the first being hatched by the end of 

 March. When disturbed, the female glides away from the 

 nest without a sound. 



Both the Fieldfare and Redwing arrive early in October, 

 and leave again late in March or early in Ajjril, the fleld- 

 t Fieldfare ^^^'^'^ being last to go. They come from the 

 and north of Europe. The redwing feeds almost 



t e wing, exclusively on insects ; the fieldfare varies its 

 insect diet with juniper, rowan, and other berries and 

 grain. The redwing is easily distinguished by the pale 

 streak over the eye ; the fieldfare by the conspicuous white 

 of the belly. Neither bird has ever been known to breed 

 in this country. 



Black -throated 'T/iriiiih. — A rare visitor from Siberia, 



