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 stra'g- 

 gling lines and dashes of black. It is 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. 



