204: MERULIDA. 
that the nest had been deserted as untenable. The eggs 
are usually four or five in number, of a beautiful light blue 
colour, with a few small well-defined black spots over the 
larger end: the length of the egg one inch one line, by ten 
lines in breadth. An observer, in Mr. Loudon’s Magazine 
of Natural History, after detailing some particulars as to 
the nest building by a pair of Thrushes, writes, ‘“« When all 
was finished, the cock took his share of the hatching ; but 
he did not sit so long as the hen, and he often fed her 
while she was upon the nest. In thirteen days the young 
birds were out of the shells, which the old ones always 
carried off.” Mr. Jenyns, in his Manual, says, the young 
of the first brood are hatched about the beginning of April, 
and sometimes earlier. I remember once to have seen 
young Thrushes on the last day of March. The parent 
birds rear two broods in the season. 
Mr. Knapp, in his Journal of a Naturalist, has related 
an interesting fact in reference to the Thrush in the follow- 
ing terms:—‘ 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 association and friend- 
ship 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 brmg 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; but after a time we missed the 
