Blue Thrushes 49 



pair of grey wagtails amongst some stones in the 

 middle of a stream, on our way up San Martino, and 

 I asked him whether he knew where they built. His 

 answer was that he had found their nest with four 

 young ones, which he had taken home to vary the 

 menu with ! Fancy eating grey wagtails ! Those 

 graceful, fairy-like little fellows, with their black 

 throats, their sulphur-coloured breasts, and their long 

 slender tails dipping up and down in the familiar 

 wagtail style, enlivening a mountain stream with their 

 quick movements and sprightly call. But what can 

 one expect of people whose parish priests allow and 

 encourage them to bring strings of slaughtered robins 

 and other warblers to their harvest festivals, as con- 

 tributions to the general offerings ? Some birds may 

 be intended as food for mankind, but many would 

 seem to have been created purely for song and 

 ornament, for denizens of our gardens and woods, 

 and for members on earth of a heavenly choir. 



Of actually looking into a blue thrush's nest I have 

 not yet had the pleasure, for my " cacciatore " (hunter) 

 came to me one day, to tell me that at a mill-house, 

 by the torrent that runs into the lake from the 

 mountain, I could see a brood of the birds I was 

 wanting, which had just been brought down from the 

 heights above. It seemed a shame to take them away 

 from the enjoyment of their natural surroundings, 

 where, amongst the rocks above the chestnut groves, 

 the large orange lilies and purple columbines brighten 

 the slopes with blooms of topaz and amethyst. 



Yet, after a lapse of over nine years, I still have 



D 



