170 THRUSHES. 



in man ; but a more singular instance, considering the near- 

 ness of the parties concerned, fell under our observation a 

 season or two ago: namely, a Blackbird's nest on the ground, 

 in a tuft of grass or rushes close to the seat of a rabbit, the 

 tail, in fact, of the rabbit being in contact with the nest. As 

 the seat as well as the nest were both occupied, these two 

 companions must have sat meditating together for many a 

 day, in perfect peace and good fellowship. We do not know 

 whether the Blackbird ever sings on its nest, which might 

 have been a very gratifying attraction to the rabbit ; but the 

 Thrush unquestionably sometimes does. Few birds, indeed, 

 seem to be more liberal in the use of their voice ; we have 

 heard it repeatedly, on fine nights, in the latter end of May, 

 singing till after dark, and have been roused from our 

 slumbers by a repetition of the same well-known song by 

 two o'clock in the morning. The following anecdote con- 

 nected with the intelligence of Thrushes, in alluding to their 

 modes of feeding, may not be out of place. Not long ago, 

 in the city of Norwich, a gentleman had a young Thrush 

 and equally young Blackbird, both in fact nestlings, which 

 he kept in the same cage. The Thrush soon learned to feed 

 itself, not so, however, its companion the Blackbird, which no 

 doubt would soon have died from exhaustion, had not the 

 Thrush undertaken the office of nurse, which it perseveringly 

 continued for ten days, regularly feeding the starving bird, 

 until at the expiration of the above time, it was competent to 

 feed itself. 



Those who have seen a young Cuckoo fed by its unsus- 

 picious step-mother, seated on a bough or rail, opening its 

 wide-gaping mouth, as if ready to swallow the poor little bird 

 that hung over it with fond attachment, fluttering its little 

 wings as it dropped a caterpillar down the monster's greedy 

 throat, will be the less surprised at the following anecdote, of 

 what may be called unnatural attachment between Thrushes 

 and birds of a very different character. 



We know nothing of the strange ways by which Providence 

 brings about some of the apparently singular contradictions 

 in its established rules ; but knowing for a certainty, that by 



