134 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



hedge. Seizing it in his bill, he flies to the nearest 

 stone or hard ground, and then proceeds to break 

 the shell into pieces by a series of rapid blows, 

 first from one side, then from the other. The taps 

 of the demolishing shell can be heard a hundred 

 yards or more. After each battering process he 

 examines the snail and picks out any morsel that 

 he can detach, frequently rubbing the slimy mass 

 on the ground, to flour it, as it were, and render it 

 more easily separable. The knocking and beating 

 is repeated until every morsel of the striped shell 

 is detached, and, with a final gulp, the remaining 

 portion of the snail is swallowed, and the bird flits 

 off in quest of another victim. We have often 

 been amused to see a Song Thrush pick up his 

 snail when alarmed and fly off with it to a more 

 secluded spot, even the terror of our sudden 

 approach not being sufficient to make the bird 

 forget its prize. Sometimes in autumn we remark 

 a Ring Ouzel or two in the elder-trees near 

 Paignton, but flocks are rarely seen either in 

 spring or autumn round Tor Bay. And this 

 seems all the more remarkable, seeing that the 

 Wheatear, a species that visits Dartmoor to breed, 

 like the Ring Ouzel, passes the district most 



