44 



BRITISH BIRDS 



is general. I am inclined to think that this thrush migration is not 

 so general as Professor Newton believes, and that the birds that 

 leave our shores are mainly those that breed in the northern parts 

 of the country. During the exceptionally severe winter of 1894-5 

 the thrushes that remained with us suffered more than most species, 

 and in the following spring I found that the song- thrush had become 

 rare throughout the southern half of England. 



Nesting begins in March, the site selected being the centre of a 

 hedge, or a thick holly or other evergreen bush, or a mass of ivy 



Fm. 19. — Throstle's Nest. 



against a wall or tree. The nest is built of dry grass, small twigs, 

 and moss, and plastered inside with mud, or clay, or cow-dung, and 

 lined with rotten wood. This is a strange material for a nest to be 

 lined with, and is not used by any other bird ; the fragments of 

 rotten wood are wetted when used, and, being pressed smoothly 

 down, form a cork-like lining, very hard when dry. Four or five 

 eggs are laid, pale greenish blue in ground-colour, thickly marked 

 with small deep brown spots, almost black. Two, and sometimes 

 three, broods are reared in the season. 



