THE LOCUST-EATING THRUSH. 67 
sometimes in a detached bush, in a meadow of high 
grass; often in a tussock of rushes, or coarse rank 
grass, and not unfrequently in the ground; in all 
of which situations I have repeatedly found them. 
When in a bush, they are generally composed out- 
wardly of wet rushes picked from the Swamp, and 
long tough grass in large quantity, and well lined 
with very fine bent. The rushes forming the ex- 
terior are generally extended to several of the ad- 
joining twigs, round which they are repeatedly and 
securely twisted ; a precaution absolutely necessary 
for its preservation, on account of the flexible na- 
ture of the bushes in which it is placed. The same 
caution is observed when a tussock is chosen, by 
fastening the tops together, and intertwining the 
materials of which the nest is formed with the stalks 
of rushes around. When placed in the ground, less 
care and fewer materials being necessary, the nest 
is much simpler and slighter than before. The fe- 
male lays five eggs of a very pale light blue, mark- 
ed with faint tinges of light purple, and long strag- 
gling lines and dashes of black. Itis not uncommon 
to find several nests in the same thicket, within a 
few feet of each other.”* © 
The birds which build in communities in South- 
ern Africa furnish us with exceedingly interesting 
illustrations upon the subject of this chapter. The 
locust-eating thrush (Turdus bicolor) is one of those 
species which, according to Barrow, congregate in 
great numbers. These unite in forming a common 
fabric for containing individual nests large enough 
for a vulture. One of these, which he met with on 
a clump of low bushes at Sneuwberg, consisted of 
a number of cells, each of which formed a separate 
nest, with a tubular gallery leading into it through 
the side. Of such cells each clump contained from 
six to twenty, one roof of twigs woven into a sort 
of basket-work covering the whole. 
* Wilson, Amer. Ornithol., iv., p. 32. 
