BIRDS THRUSHES 21 



the birds flew off with a loud, startled cry if 

 one waited for a moment near them. In one 

 of these three nests the brood was reared, 

 but of the other two one was deserted and 

 one taken. 



In 1899 a friend in the village assured me 

 that there had been a throstle's nest with 

 eight eggs in it close to her house. As only 

 four of them, she said, hatched, perhaps the 

 first hen was killed after she had laid her 

 complement of eggs, and the cock brought 

 home another mate to his ready-made nest. 



I find a note that once I saw throstles join 

 with starlings in their raid upon elder-berries, 

 but I have seen nothing since to confirm this. . 



Until the winter of 1910-11 I very seldom/ 

 found a throstle attempt to get the fat put out 

 for tits; they generally content themselves 

 with the crumbs that have fallen on the! 

 ground underneath. If the weather is at all j 

 severe they will come with sparrows to the j 

 fowls' food, but in a sharp, continuous frost 

 they disappear almost entirely. (Blackbirds 

 and some missel-thrushes remain.) This was j 

 very marked in February, 1902. Before the 

 severe cold began throstles were plentiful; 

 after it had continued for a few days not aj 

 single one was to be seen ; but when the thaw J 

 set in, in less than a week they abounded/ 

 again on every side. L- 



Some redwings come here every winter, 

 but they are less common than fieldfares and 



