20 OUT -PIRST DA S2S< OUTING : 
birds are similar. But why the thrush 
should line her nest with clay I do not under- 
stand. When the eggs are nearly hatched 
the female will sit quite tight, and allow 
you to inspect herself and nest, though only 
a few feet off. She knows full well that 
if the’ egesget chilled just “at this: time 
the young ones, nearly born, will surely 
die. 
This famous songster of our gardens, woods, 
and glades (Plate IX.) delights us mostly in 
the springtime, when the nest is building 
and the eggs are laid. Then, when the first 
streak of dawn is seen, he will often an- 
noyingly awake you with his song. But 
you will forgive him when you are quite 
awake! And late into the evening, when the 
sun has sunk quite out of sight, he is there 
again singing his sweetest, perched upon his 
favourite twig, generally one that is dead and 
without leaves, as I have often seen him in 
my old plum tree. The notes of the thrush 
always appear to me to be, as it were, a long- 
continued questioning appeal. One bird in 
