38 



X AT VEAL HISTORY. 



hedges. In winter the individuals which had made the woods and glens their summer residence 

 approach the houses and feed in the gardens and fields, or betake themselves to the rocky shores, 

 where they find subsistence by breaking the whelks and other shell-fish. Although in the cultivated 

 districts it is seldom seen unless among the bushes or hedges, it is capable of flying to a great distance, 

 which it does in gentle curves, with quick flaps, intermitted at intervals, sometimes at a considerable 

 height, but more frequently only so high as to clear the trees. Its flight is always rapid, and it selects 

 its place with quickness, settling instantaneously. When on the ground, and in the attitude of observa- 

 tion, it drops its wings a little, keeps its tail nearly horizontal, and raises its head obliquely. On 

 observing a worm or other object, it leaps briskly towards it, picks it up, or, if it has withdrawn, 

 pecks at the earth until it has seized it. Its general mode of progression on the ground is by leaping. 



SONG THRUSH. 



When in a listless mood, it droops the tail and wings, draws in its neck, and ruffles its feathers. In 

 this attitude it may often be seen perched on a tree, bush, or stone. Its food is chiefly found on the 

 ground, and consists of snails, earth-worms, larvae, coleoptera, hips, berries, and seeds of various kinds. 

 Helix aspersa, horteiisis, and nemoralis supply great part of its food in winter. It breaks the shells 

 by raising them in its bill, and knocking them repeatedly against a stone. Large heaps of the shells 

 thus broken may be seen by garden walls, and in pastures on the edges of thickets. In the Hebrides, 

 where it frequents the shores in winter, it treats the Turbo littoreus and Trochus conuloides in the 

 same manner ; and of these shells the fragments may often be found under shelter of some stone or 

 slab, to which the bird flies with its prey. Many years ago, having in the course of my littoral rambles 

 in Harris, frequently heard a sharp sound like that of a small stone struck upon another, I endeavoured 

 to discover its cause, but for a long time in vain, until at length, being one day in search of birds, 

 when the tide was out, I heard the well-known chink, and standing still discovered at a distance, in a 

 recess formed by two flat stones at the upper part of the shore, a bird moving its head and body 

 alternately upwards and downwards, each downward motion being followed by the noise which had 

 hitherto been so mysterious. Running up to the place I found a Thrush, which, flying off, left a whelk 

 newly broken, but with the animal in it, lying amidst a heap of fragments round a smooth stone. 



