THE ZooLocGist—Marcu, 1876. 4817 
Missel Thrushes and Blackbirds.— 25th. I have noticed 
for the last few days that these birds are feeding almost entirely 
on haws, which seems to me very unusual, considering that the 
weather is so open. . 
Song Thrush.—\ was stealing along a footpath in the Dene, 
trying to get a shot at some wood pigeons that were sitting on a 
tree, when a tapping noise attracted my attention: thinking it was 
a woodpecker, I began to scan all the nearest trees. Seeing nothing, 
I walked quietly through some bushes in the direction from which 
the noise came, and there I saw a song thrush pegging away with 
its beak at a rotten hazel: the stick was lying on the ground, the 
thrush standing by it with both feet on the ground, and must have 
been thus engaged fora considerable time, judging by the quantity 
of chips. The bird was probably seeking for insects ; but although 
I took the bark off carefully and broke up a quantity of the stick 
Ifound none This habit of the thrush was entirely new to me. 
I have three or four times seen them breaking snail-shells, but 
never in the manner quoted by Mr. Hancock from the work of Mr. 
Charles St. John, who says of the thrush :—“ When it finds a snail 
which it cannot extract from the shell it carries it to some favourite 
stone which happens to have a convenient chink in it, pinning the 
shell so that it cannot slip, and then soon breaks it up, using its 
strong bill like a pickaxe.”. Now I much doubt whether a thrush 
could succeed in extracting a snail without first breaking the shell. 
However, in every instance which has come under my notice, the 
thrush held the snail in its beak; and if it missed its hold it would 
stand by motionless until the snail again exposed itself sufficiently 
for the bird to regain its hold, when it would again seize the snail, 
and keep hold of it until it had so smashed the shell against a 
stone as to be no longer a protection to the snail: just as they 
will patiently keep hold of a large worm until they succeed in 
drawing it quite clear of its hole; but, as soon as they find the 
worm has lost its grip, they will lay it down—close to or even 
covering the mouth of the hole—until they have mangled it to 
their liking. 
OCTOBER. 
Thrush.—On the 8th I observed that a great number of thrushes 
had arrived in the Dene. 
Heron.—On the same day | saw a heron sitting on the top of a 
fir tree. 
