A LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE. 



earth with laudable rapidity. Few or no 

 earthworms live in the shallow sand of the 

 open moor ; and, though a mole or two 

 can just eke out a precarious living here 

 and there in the softer and grassier hollows 

 I see their mounds every day as I cross 

 the common worms are not nearly abun- 

 dant enough to tempt the epicurean and 

 greedy thrushes from the shelter of the 

 valley. For the mole, you see, goes out 

 hunting underground on the trail of the 

 earth-worm ; but the thrush must needs 

 depend upon the few stray stragglers which 

 come to the surface morning and evening. 



No sooner had worms begun to make 

 castings on the lawn, however, than some 

 Columbus thrush discovered a new world 

 was opened to him. He and his mate took 

 formal possession of the patch of green, 

 which they hold as their own, using it 

 regularly as a private hunting-ground. 

 Every other tennis-lawn in the neighbour- 

 hood similarly supports its pair of thrushes, 

 157 



