SNAILS. 229 



fruits, but passes a great portion of its time at the bot- 

 toms of ditches, seeking for the smaller species of snails 

 (helix hortensis and hel. nemoralis), which it draws out 

 from the old stumps of the fence with unwearied per- 

 severance, dashing their shells 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 ad- 

 vances, they congregate in clusters behind some old 

 tree, or against a sheltered wall, fixing the openings of 

 their shells against each other, or on the substance be- 

 neath, 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. 

 This has more than once reminded me of the fable of 

 the "Four Bulls;" united invincible, when separated 

 an easy prey ; but, with the exception of this season, 

 and this bird, I know no casualty to which the garden 

 snail is exposed. 



Ignorant as we are of the scope, limitation, and even 

 existence, of certain faculties in animals, we can fre- 

 quently do little more than conjecture the means where- 

 by they perform many of the functions of life. This 

 ignorance leads us naturally at times to refer these 

 powers to the agency of senses like our own ; but, ia 

 most instances, probably without any foundation in 

 truth. No creature seems less qualified to commit the 

 depredations which it does, than the garden snaii. TYo 

 grieve to see our fruit mangled and disfigured by these 

 ^creatures, but cannot readily comprehend by what 

 means they obtain the knowledge that its maturity IB 







