186 THEUSH. 



fed perseveringly for ten days, until at the expiration of that 

 period it too was able to feed itself, which before it was not. 

 If the eggs of another kindred species should be placed in 

 the nest of a Thrush, both will be educated together without 

 distinction 'nullo discrimine.' 



The nest is composed of moss, small twigs, straws, leaves, 

 roots, stems of plants, and grass, compacted together with some 

 tenacious substance with tolerable ingenuity, and is lined with 

 a congeries of clay and decayed wood. Its diameter is usually 

 about three inches and a half or four inches inside, and about 

 seven outside; its depth from two and a half to four. It is 

 placed in a hedge or thick bush of any kind at a small 

 height from the ground, and likewise at times on a rough 

 bank among moss, brambles, or shrubs, as also, where the 

 country is unwooded, under the shelter of some projecting 

 stone or crag, in the crevice of a rock, or in a tuft of heath. 

 One has been known to be placed on a rail, and one on the 

 shaft of a thrashing machine: they are not unfrequently found 

 in a shed or open tool-house. These birds are sometimes 

 very expeditious in erecting their nests. 'Thus,' says Mr. 

 Macgillivray, 'on Thursday morning, the 15th. of June, 1837, 

 a pair began to build in an apple-tree in my garden. On 

 Friday afternoon the nest was finished, and on Saturday 

 morning, the 17th., the first egg was laid in it, although the 

 plaster in the inside was very wet. On Wednesday, the 21st., 

 the female began to sit on five eggs, and on Monday, the 

 17th. of July, the young ones flew out of their nest.' 



The late amiable Dr. Stanley, Bishop of Norwich, whom I 

 have so frequently had the pleasure of quoting from, gives 

 the following account as an instance of the confidence which 

 the Thrush, if undisturbed, will exhibit in building its own 

 habitation close to that of man: A short time ago, in Scotland, 

 some carpenters working in a shed adjacent to a house, 

 observed one of these birds flying in and out, which induced 

 them to direct their attention to the cause, when, to their 

 surprise, they found a nest commenced among the teeth of a 

 harrow, which, with some other farming- tools and implements, 

 were placed upon the joists of 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 state of great 

 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 



