SONG-THRUSH. 127 



dry weather.* They appear to resort to particular 

 spots and favourite stones for breaking the shells of 

 these animals. There are two or three such spots in 

 my garden, which are very much visited for this 

 purpose, and where the shelly fragments of the 

 Helix aspersa may be found in some seasons accu- 

 mulated by handfuls. It is very amusing to watch 

 the thrush holding the snail in its bill, and forcibly 

 knocking it against a stone, in order to get at the 

 contents of the shell. The rapping noise which it 

 makes may be heard to a considerable distance, and 

 I have often known persons puzzled at such times to 

 know whence the noise proceeded. When disturbed 

 during the operation, I have seen the bird fly off with 

 its booty to another spot. 



REDBREAST.f 



A LADY has furnished me with the following 

 striking instance of maternal affection in a redbreast, 

 that had built in some ivy against a wall in a garden 

 at Whitburn, near Sunderland, in April 1839. The 

 bird was sitting upon four eggs, when the gardener 

 one day trimmed the ivy so close with his shears as 



* And sometimes also in winter, it would seem, during frost, 

 when other food is scarce, according to Mr. Selby. In a letter, 

 dated Twizell, Feb. 12th, 1845, he observes: "We have had 

 severe frost, and a good deal of snow, since the commencement of 

 the month. The thrushes are all now near the coast, about the 

 roots of the thickest hedges, where they obtain a supply of helices: 

 as soon as a thaw takes place, we shall have them in the planta- 

 tions/' t Erithaca rubecula, Swains. 



