THRUSHES. 95 



mon to the species, but that individual birds may 

 often be distinguished for superior variety, power, 

 and fulness in their notes ; there being as much 

 difference in the execution of birds of the same 

 species, as between human voices singing the same 

 air. 



We have already mentioned the various fare on 

 which the Thrushes regale; the species before us, 

 while no less omnivorous, feeds with peculiar 

 relish on shelled snails, and especially the com- 

 mon garden-snail, and the wood-snail (Helix hor- 

 tensis, et H. nemoralis). He breaks the shell 

 against a stone, and extracts the soft animal. Mr. 

 Jesse, in his " Gleanings," has the following ob- 

 servation : " Thrushes feed much on snails, 

 looking for them in mossy banks. Having fre- 

 quently observed some broken snail-shells near 

 two projecting pebbles on a gravel-walk, which 

 had a hollow between them, I endeavoured to 

 discover the occasion of their being brought to 

 that situation. At last, I saw a Thrush fly to the 

 spot with a snail-shell in his mouth, which he 

 placed between the two stones, and hammered at 

 it with his beak till he had broken it, and was 

 then able to feed on its contents. The bird must 

 have discovered that he could not apply his beak 

 with sufficient force to break the shell while it 

 was rolling about, and he therefore found out and 

 made use of a spot which would keep the shell in 

 one position.'' * 



The nest of the Song-Thrush is an ingenious 

 structure, for though somewhat rough and loose 

 externally, within it presents the appearance of a 

 smooth, hard, cup, quite water-tight. The author 



* Jesse's " Gleanings," p. 36. 



