THRUSHES. 169 



whether the Blackbird ever sings on its nest, which might 

 have been a very gratifying attraction to the rabbit ; but the 

 Thrush unquestionably sometimes does. Few birds, indeed, 

 seem to be more liberal in the use of their voice ; we have 

 heard it repeatedly, on fine nights, in the latter end of May, 

 singing till after dark, and have been roused from our slumbers 

 by a repetition of the same well-known song by two o'clock 

 in the morning. The following anecdote connected with the 

 intelligence of Thrushes, in alluding to their modes of feeding, 

 may not be out of place. Not long ago, in the city of Norwich, 

 a gentleman had a young Thrush and equally young Blackbird, 

 both in fact nestlings, which he kept in the same cage. The 

 Thrush soon learned to feed itself, not so, however, its com- 

 panion the Blackbird, which no doubt would soon have died 

 from exhaustion, had not the Thrush undertaken the office of 

 nurse, which it perseveringly continued for ten days, regularly 

 feeding the starving bird, until, at the expiration of the above 

 time, it was competent to feed itself. 



Those who have seen a young Cuckoo fed by its unsuspicious 

 stepmother, seated on a bough or rail, opening its wide, gaping 

 mouth, as if ready to swallow the poor little bird that hung 

 over it with fond attachment, fluttering its little wings as it 

 dropped a caterpillar down the monster's greedy throat, will 

 be the less surprised at the following anecdote, of what may 

 be called unnatural attachment between Thrushes and birds 

 of a very different character. 



We know nothing of the strange ways by which Providence 

 brings about some of the apparently singular contradictions 

 in its established rules ; but knowing for a certainty that, by 

 some strange delusion, a small Hedge-Sparrow is persuaded to 

 look upon an enormous Cuckoo as its own beloved young one, 

 may we not suspect that the Cuckoo has some instinctive mode 

 of gaining the affections, or attracting the attention, of those 

 birds from whom it requires assistance 1 The case was this : 

 A young Cuckoo was taken from the nest of a Hedge-Sparrow, 

 and a few days afterwards a young Thrush, scarcely fledged, 

 was put into the same cage. The latter could feed itself, but 



