426 ON VARIOUS PARTS 



THRUSHES. 



Thrushes during long droughts are of great service in 

 hunting out shell snails, which they pull in pieces for their 

 young, and are therefore very serviceable in gardens *. Mis- 

 sel thrushes do not destroy the fruit in gardens like the other 

 species of turdi, but feed on the berries of misseltoe, and in 

 the spring on ivy berries, which then begin to ripen. In the 

 summer, when their young become fledged, they leave neigh- 

 bourhoods, and retire to sheep walks and wild commons. 



The magpies, when they have young, destroy the broods of 

 missel thrushes, though the dams are fierce birds, and fight 

 boldly in defence of their nests. It is probably to avoid such 

 insults, that this species of thrush, though wild at other times, 

 delights to build near houses, and in frequented walks and 

 gardens. WHITE. 



Of the truth of this I have been an eye-witness, having seen 

 the common thrush feeding on the shell snail. 



In the very early part of this spring (1797) a bird of this 

 species used to sit every morning on the top of some high 

 elms close by my windows, and delight me with its charming 



* [The fondness of thrushes for snails, not merely for feeding their 

 young, but as their ordinary aliment, is well known, and renders them 

 most useful tenants of the garden. I have often watched them breaking 

 the shells, and then picking out the animals. The bird seizes the shell 

 by the margin of the mouth, then knocks it against a stone, often selecting 

 a particular stone for repeated use, so that sometimes the remains of a 

 considerable number of shells are found, the occupants of which have 

 been immolated on one stone of sacrifice. I once saw the broken frag- 

 ments of upwards of fifty shells of Helix aspersa and H. nemoralis within 

 the space of little more than a square yard of a brick path in the garden. 

 It occasionally happens that the bird is disturbed when in the act of 

 breaking the shell; and if the injury is confined to a small fracture, and 

 within reach of the " cloak " or shell-secreting organ, it is beautifully 

 repaired. I possess several specimens which have been thus effectually 

 and neatly patched. T. B.] 



