THRUSHES EATING FRUIT . 89 



winter, it will often be heard. Even though huddled 

 up in a sheltered place during a snowstorm, if the 

 sun should happen to break through the clouds and 

 shine for a few moments before setting, the Thrush 

 will break out into a few notes of wild song, as if 

 welcoming the cheerful beams as a promise of 

 something better still to come. 



During very dry summers, when their usual food, 

 such as worms and snails, is hard to find, Thrushes 

 eat an immense amount of fruit, principally goose- 

 berries and currants ; the former they pierce with 

 their beak and then suck out the contents, leaving 

 the empty skin hanging on the bush. On some of 

 the bushes nearly the whole of the crop will be 

 found to be thus eaten ; and I have even seen them 

 so gorged with fruit, that they seemed .to have 

 some difficulty in getting away. I have known of 

 several dozen birds being caught in. one day in a 

 small orchard without the number seeming to have 

 diminished. Blackbirds also have much to answer 

 for during the fruit season. On asking one bird- 

 catcher what he did with all the birds he caught, 

 he replied that the cocks were sold alive to a dealer 

 in London, and the hens, not being of any money 

 value, were killed ; and if he could not find any one 

 who would eat them they were thrown away. He 

 had a good-sized bag full of dead hen Blackbirds. 



