354 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



beak on the thinner or spiral end. 1 I have not seen the fieldfare, 

 mistle-thrush, or ring-ouzel attacking snail-shells, and can find no 

 evidence on the point. 



In hot weather the blackbird has been known on more than one 

 occasion to turn fisher. The method it adopted was to make a dash 

 into the shallow water at the edge of a stream, snap up a minnow, 

 land it, and, after pecking its lively victim into a convenient state of 

 tranquillity, swallow it whole. That the blackbird should alone have 

 been recorded as making this departure from the customs of its 

 Family is not surprising, for it is an enterprising bird. The mistle- 

 thrush has been accused of a more serious departure from Family 

 traditions ; that is, of taking the young of other species either for its 

 own consumption or to feed its young, and there is reason to believe 

 that the charge is true. It may be urged in extenuation that the 

 evidence shows the offender was pushed to these extremities by a 

 period of drought. 2 



In hard weather, when the soil is sealed with ice or covered with 

 snow, the Thrushes suffer severely from hunger unless there are berries 

 still to be found. Many of the migrant birds move further south or 

 west, some crossing to Ireland. Several go still further, and leave our 

 Isles for warmer climes on the Continent. This applies not only to the 

 redwings and fieldfares, but also to those song-thrushes, blackbirds and 

 mistle-thrushes that have come from N.-W. Europe in the autumn to 

 winter with us. The stationary members of these species, those that 

 are seen about our gardens throughout the year probably remain 

 where they are, or if in early autumn they have gone to the uplands 

 for berries, come down to the valleys and also to the coast, where 

 fieldfares and redwings, and even mistle-thrushes also resort to feed 

 on shell-fish or whatever else they can pick up. 3 



1 Macgillivray's History of Birds, vol. ii. 



* For the blackbird as fisher, see H. B. Forrest, Fauna of North Wales ; Field, 1894, vol. 84, 

 p. 47. For the mistle-thrush, see the Zoologist, 1887, pp. 203, 304. 



3 British Association Report s on the " Song-thrush " (1900, pp. 404-409), and " Fieldfare" (1920, 

 pp. 374-7), both by Mr. Eagle Clarke ; J. Cordeaux, Birds of the Number District ; D'Urban and 

 Matthew, Birds of Devonshire ; N. F. Ticehurst, Birds of Kent ; Nelson, Birds of Yorkshire. 



