168 THRUSHES. 



the shed, just over their heads. The carpenters had arrived 

 soon after six o'clock ; and at seven, when they found the 

 nest, it was in a great state of forwardness, and had evidently 

 been the morning's work of a pair of these indefatigable birds. 

 Their activity throughout the day was incessant, and when 

 the workmen left off in the evening, and came again in the 

 morning, they found the female seated in her half-finished 

 mansion, and, when she flew off for a short time, it was found 

 that she had already laid an egg, though the bottom of the 

 nest was the only part plastered and completed, evidently to 

 meet the pressing necessity of the female bird. When all 

 was finished, the cock took his share in the hatching ; and, 

 though he did not sit so long, he was very attentive in feeding 

 her when on the nest. In thirteen days the young birds 

 were out of their shells, which the old ones carried off. It is 

 generally supposed that the usual food for nestling Thrushes 

 consists of grubs and worms, quantities of which they may be 

 constantly seen collecting on lawns, particularly after showers 

 have moistened the earth ; and, to those who have opportu- 

 nities of observing them, nothing can be more interesting than 

 the way they, as well as Blackbirds and some other birds, set 

 about it. 



Watch an old Thrush pounce down on a lawn moistened 

 with dew or rain. At first he stands motionless, apparently 

 thinking of nothing at all, his eye vacant, or with an un- 

 meaning gaze. Suddenly he cocks his ear on one side, makes 

 a glancing sort of dart with his head and neck, gives perhaps 

 one or two hops, and then stops, again listening attentively, 

 and his eye glistening with attention and animation ; his beak 

 almost touches the ground, he draws back his head, as if to 

 make a determined peck. Again he pauses ; listens again ; 

 hops, perhaps, once or twice, scarcely moving his position, and 

 pecks smartly on the sod ; then is once more motionless as a 

 stuffed bird. But he knows well what he is about ; for, after 

 another moment's pause, having ascertained that all is right, 

 he pecks away with might and main, and soon draws out a 

 fine worm, which his fine sense of hearing had informed him 

 was not far off, and which his hops and previous peckings had 



