a covering of leaves where they have 

 been protected from the storms and the 

 cold. So industrious are the Thrushes in 

 their search for snails "that the hedge 

 side is marked by a line of broken shells, 

 as the birds fetch the snails out and bat- 

 ter the shells to pieces with their bills 

 by hammering them against a stone." 



The nest is usually built in a hedge, 

 tree or shrub at no great height above 

 the ground. In unwooded localities it 

 is often placed in the crevice of a rock 



or at the base of a tuft of heath. Ex- 

 ternally, the nest is composed of slender 

 twigs, fine roots, grasses and moss. It 

 is lined with a thin layer of mud, dung 

 or rotten wood, upon which the eggs rest. 

 Not only is the male Song Thrush a 

 beautiful singer, but it is also indus- 

 trious and very attentive to its mate dur- 

 ing the period of hatching their young. 

 Two, and not infrequently three broods 

 are raised in a single season. 



AUNT GAILY'S RAT STORY. 



The Gaily family had a supply of 

 sorghum molasses made each season 

 and this particular autumn it was made 

 and brought home in a large tin can or 

 vat of some sort, and set in the cellar 

 to get the air for a number of days. 

 The can was very large and the quantity 

 of molasses small, and Aunty Gaily's 

 cellar a pink of cleanliness. One day 

 when she went to the cellar, she was 

 surprised to see dirt floating on the 

 molasses and a dauby appearance to the 

 can. 



She could not imagine the cause, for 

 she could see no tracks of any kind about. 

 The thing repeated itself day after day, 

 and Aunty determined to fathom that 

 molasses question to the bottom. She 

 found plenty of dirt in the bottom of 

 the can, nothing else, when suddenly she 

 spied around a post, the sharp eyes of 

 Mr. Rat coming for his rations. She 

 quietly seated herself to await develop- 

 ments. Soon came another rat and then 

 another, and another, until seven or 

 eight big fellows appeared ; then up the 

 side of the blistered, painted can went 



one and hung himself by the front feet 

 down inside the can, and another fol- 

 lowed him and crawled down his back 

 and hung to his hind legs. Then a 

 third, a fourth, until as Aunty said, a 

 great large "Grand daddy" rat crawled 

 down the rat bridge and hung on. His 

 tail went into the molasses ; he switched 

 it around, smearing his back with the 

 syrup and getting as much on himself 

 as he possibly could. Then he crawled 

 back, up and off; the rest followed him 

 and got down on the cellar floor. He then 

 ate what was on his tail, and the rest 

 took what was smeared on his sides and 

 back till altogether he was washed slick 

 and clean. 



Aunty thought she had been in the cel- 

 lar long enough by this time, so she 

 shooed the rats and off they scampered. 

 She thought they would have done the 

 same thing again had she kept quiet 

 longer. 



It is very safe to say the Gaily's ate 

 no sorghum from that can and that a 

 good trap was soon placed on the scene 

 of action. Mary Noland. 



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