26 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
SONG THRUSH. 
Turpus musicus, Linn. 
Pl. VIL., figs. 1-9; and Pl. XXXVIL., fig. 1. 
Geogr. distr.—Found throughout the Palearctic Region, but rare in 
the extreme east; migratory as a rule in Western Europe, though 
resident in some countries; breeds abundantly in the British Isles, 
where it is partially resident. 
Food.—Beetles, larve, worms, snails, berries, seeds. 
Nest.—A rather deep cup, very strong and heavy in construction ; 
formed externally of slender twigs, roots, grasses, leaves, and moss, 
lined internally with a layer of mud, cow-dung, or rotten wood care- 
fully smoothed so as to remind one of the interior of a cocoa-nut. 
Position of nest-—In hedges, forks of young trees, ivy-covered 
walls, in crevices or under ledges of rock, among stunted willows near 
streams, or at the root of a tuft of heath. 
Number of eggs.—4-6; usually 5. 
Time of nidvfication.—III-VIII; May and June. 
Unlike the Blackbird, this bird usually goes very quietly 
off its nest when flushed ; so far as my experience goes, it 
is less timid, and will sometimes allow itself even to be 
touched before deserting its eggs, possibly the conspicuous 
colouring of the latter may have something to do with this 
unwillingness on the part of the parent to expose them to 
view. 
The nest is one of the commonest and most conspicuous 
objects which the collector can meet with; I have myself 
met with about thirty in a morning’s ramble, and I have 
heard of as many as sixty being found in the course of a 
day: the wholesale grubbing of woods by agriculturists, 
which has, in my opinion, been the principal cause of the 
decrease in the numbers of many of our British Birds in 
late years, has apparently not in any way affected the 
Song Thrush, which, owing to its indifference as to the 
selection of a place for its nest, appears to become more 
abundant every year. 
