SONG THRUSH, 195 



line, by ten lines in breadth. An observer, in Mr. Loudon's 

 Magazine of Natural History, after detailing some particulars 

 as to the nest building by a pair of Thrushes, writes, " When 

 all was finished, the cock took his share of the hatching ; but 

 he did not sit so long as the hen, and he often fed her while 

 she was upon the nest. In thirteen days the young birds 

 were out of the shells, which the old ones always carried off." 

 Mr. Jenyns, in his Manual, says, the young of the first 

 brood are hatched about the beginning of April, and some- 

 times earlier. I remember once to have seen young Thrushes 

 on the last day of March. The parent birds rear two broods 

 in the season. 



Mr. Knapp, in his Journal of a Naturalist, has related 

 an interesting fact in reference to the Thrush in the following 

 terms : — " We observed this summer two Common Thrushes 

 frequenting the shrubs on the green in our garden. From 

 the slenderness of their forms and the freshness of their 

 plumage, we pronounced them to be birds of the preceding 

 summer. There was an association and friendship between 

 them that called our attention to their actions. One of them 

 seemed ailing, or feeble from some bodily accident ; for though 

 it hopped about, yet it appeared unable to obtain sufficiency 

 of food. Its companion, an active, sprightly bird, would fre- 

 quently bring it worms or bruised snails, when they mutu- 

 ally partook of the banquet ; and the ailing bird would wait 

 patiently, understand the actions, expect the assistance of 

 the other, and advance from his asylum upon its approach. 

 This procedure was continued for some days ; but after a 

 time we missed the fostered bird, which probably died, or 

 by reason of its weakness met with some fatal accident." 



Towards the end of autumn our native Thrushes receive 

 a considerable accession in number from the birds that arrive 

 from the North. M. Nilsson, a Professor of Natural His- 

 tory in Sweden, says, " the Thrushes leave that country for 



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