204 MERULID^E. 



that the nest had been deserted as untenable. The 

 are usually four or five in number, of a beautiful light blue 

 colour, with a few small well-defined black spots over the 

 larger end : the length of the egg one inch one line, by ten 

 lines in breadth. An observer, in Mr. London's Magazine 

 of Natural History, after detailing some particulars as to 

 the nest building by a pair of Thrushes, writes, " When all 

 was finished, the cock took his share of the hatching ; but 

 he did not sit so long as the hen, and he often fed her 

 while she was upon the nest. In thirteen days the young 

 birds were out of the shells, which the old ones always 

 carried off." Mr. Jenyns, in his Manual, says, the young 

 of the first brood are hatched about the beginning of April, 

 and sometimes earlier. I remember once to have seen 

 young Thrushes on the last day of March. The parent 

 birds rear two broods in the season. 



Mr. Knapp, in his Journal of a Naturalist, has related 

 an interesting fact in reference to the Thrush in the follow- 

 ing terms: "We observed this summer two Common 

 Thrushes frequenting the shrubs on the green in our garden. 

 From the slenderness of their forms and the freshness of 

 their plumage, we pronounced them to be birds of the 

 preceding summer. There was an association and friend- 

 ship between them that called our attention to their actions. 

 One of them seemed ailing, or feeble from some bodily 

 accident ; for though it hopped about, yet it appeared 

 unable to obtain sufficiency of food. Its companion, an 

 active, sprightly bird, would frequently bring it worms or 

 bruised snails, when they mutually partook of the banquet ; 

 and the ailing bird would wait patiently, understand the 

 actions, expect the assistance of the other, and advance 

 from his asylum upon its approach. This procedure was 

 continued for some days ; but after a time we missed the 



