WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



the middle. Its captor gives it a good shake, 

 like a dog worrying a rat, beats and shakes it 

 until it is quiet, then swallows it with a gulp, 

 and hops gently on to look for another worm. 

 The number of earth-worms that thrushes 

 alone destroy must be very large, for they 

 feed their young ones entirely upon them. I 

 have watched the old birds taking home food 

 to the nest, and have never seen the nest- 

 lings given anything but earth-worms. Every 

 ten minutes, on an average, one of the parents 

 would come hopping through the twigs and up 

 to the edge of the nest with a beak as full 

 as it would hold. Some seconds before the 

 old thrush jumped on to the side of the nest 

 the babies knew food was near, their heads on 

 long trembling necks shot up into the air, and 

 five orange gapes were open wide for the good 

 things to come. Carefully and impartially the 

 mother, or father, as the case might be, dis- 

 tributed the load, first down this anxious 

 throat, then into the next wavering beak, until 

 all sank back happy and contented into the 

 nest. Though the food was disposed of the old 

 bird would wait a moment or two, for the 

 nest had to be kept clean, and nothing must be 

 left to soil it. While the little ones are very 

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