130 A SNAIL DESTROYER. 



banks of streams well covered with bushes and thick vege- 

 tation. In winter it comes near to the towns and villages 

 to feed in the fields and gardens, in search after small 

 earthworms, grubs, beetles, &c. It also eats berries and 

 seeds of various kinds, and when hard pressed, resorts to 

 the shores, and finds subsistence by breaking the whelks 

 and other shell-fish. The bird's ability to accomplish this 

 latter feat has been questioned, but Macgillivray states that 

 he has seen it in the act of breaking the shell of a whelk, 

 which was inserted in a recess between two flat stones, by 

 repeated taps of its bill. Gilbert White and Knapp both 

 testify to the bird's capability of breaking the shells of 

 snails. The latter says : 



I do not recollect any creature less obnoxious to harm than the 

 common snail (Helix aspersa) of our gardens. A sad persevering 

 depredator and mangier it is, and when we catch it at its banquet 

 on our walls, it can expect no reprieve from our hands. But our 

 captures are partial and temporary ; and, secured in its strong shell, 

 it seems safe from external dangers ; yet its time comes, and one 

 weak bird destroys it in great numbers. In the winter season, the 

 common Song Thrush feeds sparingly on the berries of the white- 

 thorn, and the hedge fruits, but passes a great portion of its time at 

 the bottoms of ditches, seeking for the smaller species of snails 

 (Helix hortensis and Helix nemoralis\ which it draws out from the 

 old stumps of the fence with unwearied perseverance, dashing their 

 shell to pieces on a stone, and we frequently see it escaping from the 

 hedge bank with its prize, which no little intimidation induces it to 

 relinquish. The larger kind at this season are beyond its power 

 readily to obtain, for, as the cold weather advances, they congregate 

 in clusters behind some old tree, or against a sheltered wall, fixing 

 the opening of their shells against each other, or on the substance 

 beneath, and adhering so firmly in a mass, that the Thrush cannot 

 by any means draw them wholly or singly from their asylum. In 

 the warmer portion of the year they rest separate, and adhere but 

 slightly, and should the summer be a dry one, the bird makes ample 

 amends for the disappointment in winter, intrudes its bill under the 

 margin of the opening, detaches them from their hold, and destroys 

 them in great numbers. In the summers of 1825 and 1826, both 

 hot and dry ones, necessity rendered the Thrush unusually assiduous 

 in its pursuits ; and every large stone in the lane, or under the old 

 hedge, was strewed with the fragments of its banquet. 



Yarrell gives an excellent character to this feathered 

 favourite : 



