30 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



The food of the Thrush varies according to 

 season. Worms, of course, form a staple article of 

 diet ; and we take it that the original, and now pro- 

 verbial, " early bird" was unquestionably a Thrush, 

 although no " early ornithologist," it would seem, 

 has taken the trouble to settle the point. On snails 

 it preys largely, the favourite species sought for 

 being the thin-shelled Helix hortensis and nemoralis, 

 and in default of these the stouter H. aspersa and 

 arbustorum. It sometimes happens that a Thrush, 

 after breaking or chipping a shell, is frightened 

 away before he can extract the snail, which con- 

 trives to crawl away and conceal itself. In such 

 cases the snail has power to repair the damage it 

 has sustained, and a new shell forms where the old 

 one has been destroyed. This is effected by a 

 secretion of the mantle composed chiefly of carbon- 

 ate of lime, with a small proportion of animal matter. 

 Few observant persons can have failed to remark 

 these mended snail-shells in the course of a walk, 

 although they may not at once have surmised the 

 cause of the accident and the mode of repair. The 

 bird breaks the shells by raising them in its bill and 

 knocking them repeatedly against a stone. Large 



