200 NATURAL HISTORY. 



pose, it invariably returns to it with its prey, so that heaps of 

 broken snail-shells may often* be found where the thrushes have 

 been at work. 



The eggs of the Thrush are five in number, of a bluish- 

 green colour, spotted with a deep reddish-brown. Sometimes 

 the spots are altogether absent. 



Merula (Lat. a Blackbird], the Blackbird. 



The BLACKBIRD is another delightful songster, whose jetty 

 hue and orange-tawny bill are too well known to need 'de- 

 scription. It is a very shy bird, arid if disturbed in a hedge, 

 has a habit of darting through it, and then escaping on the 

 other -side, uttering a sharp cry of alarm. The habits of this 

 bird are not unlike those of the thrush, especially in its zeal 

 for unearthing the cockchaffer-grubs, and possibly for eating 

 cherries when they are ripe. 



Its nest is built usually at the foot of a hedge, frequently 

 in the very centre of a holly bush, safe from most enemies, but 

 weasels, &c. 



