THE TRUE THRUSHES. 265 



winter season shows its first signs of passing away, the Thrush 

 begins to sing, and very soon the pair of birds are busy with 

 their nest, so that it is not uncommon to see young birds by 

 the end of March or the beginning of April. Cold weather 

 ensuing stills the bird's song, and during a rainless spring it is 

 to be heard less frequently, as the birds find sufficient employ- 

 ment in seeking food for the young. They will quarter a 

 lawn from end to end in search of worms, often the two 

 parent birds in company, and it is amusing to see how one 

 will copy the actions of the other. When one runs a few 

 steps and halts, the other bird follows suit. After a little run, they 

 wait with their head on one side, listening attentively, and then 

 with a sudden bound they seize a worm and drag it out. 

 The next process is to break the worm up, and when this is 

 successfully accomplished the parent flies off to the nest to 

 feed the youngsters. As soon as the latter can fly, they 

 accompany the old birds and dog their footsteps, till their 

 pertinacity must be somewhat of a nuisance ; but it is a pretty 

 sight to see an old Thrush teaching one of its progeny to pick 

 up a worm for itself. Having drawn the unwilling prey from 

 the grass and broken it up so that there is no fear of its 

 crawling away, the old bird places it before the young one, 

 and pecks at the worm to show the latter how to take it up 

 for itself. It then taps the bill of the youngster and lays 

 the worm again in front of it, till the little one begins to feed 

 itself. 



Both male and female sit upon the eggs, but the chief share 

 falls to the female, and often, when she comes off to feed, the 

 male bird drives her back to the nest, as is done also both by 

 Blackbirds and Starlings, especially by the latter bird. When 

 the young are first hatched, both male and female are inde- 

 fatigable in searching for food for them, and this business 

 occupies so much of their time that the male has no leisure to 

 sing until the evening, — unlike the Blackbird, who varies his 

 marital duties by an occasional song, challenged thereto, 

 maybe, by the notes of a rival cock-bird in a neighbouring 

 wood or garden ; but even then his beautiful mellow notes 

 are spoiled by a sudden break off into a subdued cackle or a 

 cat-like " mew." Not so with the Thrush. When he sings 

 he means business, and a spring shower is enough to make 



