THE SONG THBUSH. 341 



beginning of April, and sometimes earlier ; and NEVILLE WOOD 

 states, that he has sometimes found Garden Thrushes' nests 

 begun as early as the middle of February, although he had never 

 known them completed, the coming on of a frost having generally 

 put a stop to the work. 



WHITE, among other naturalists, has called attention to the 

 circumstance that Thrushes render great service to man by 

 destroying vast numbers of snails, in detaching which from the 

 old walls and garden palings, to which they adhere very firmly, 

 and in the breaking of their shelly covering, these birds display 

 great perseverance and sagacity. " I have frequently observed," 

 says JESSE, in his notes to White s Selborne, " Thrushes place a 

 shell snail between two stones, or a hollow in a gravel walk, to 

 prevent their rolling, and then picking them till they broke 

 them." KNAPP may also be quoted on this head; but the fol- 

 lowing interesting anecdote from his Journal, seems to have a 

 better claim upon our space : 



" 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 asso- 

 ciation and friendship 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, out 

 after a time we missed the fostered bird, which probably died, or 

 by reason of its weakness met with some fatal accident. We 

 have many relations of the natural affection of animals ; and 

 whoever has attended to the actions of the various creatures we 

 are accustomed to domesticate about us, can probably add many 

 other instances from their own observation." 



BEODEEIP, in his Zoological Recreations, observes, in refer- 

 ence to this bird, that " it was evidently one that ministered to 

 the absurd wantonness of the Roman voluptuaries in their olios 

 of brains and tongues of singing birds. Even in the present 

 day, as we learn from a distinguished ornithologist of this coun- 

 try, it is considered among the Italians as 'molto arato agli 

 Epicurei? The luscious grapes and figs on which it there feeds, 

 are said to impart a most exquisite flavour to its flesh, which seems 

 well appreciated by the ex-maitre d'hotel of Pascal Bruno's 



