THE SONG THRUSH. 



claim no great acquaintance with the 

 superb notes of Sweet Philomel 



Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, who has 

 had a great deal of experience amongst 

 feathered musicians, says that the song 

 of the Mavis is " clear, yet full of mellow- 

 ness — now pealing out a phrase of wild 

 bluff heartiness, and anon with long- 

 drawn notes tinged with exquisite pathos 

 — striking a responsive chord in the heart 

 of every hearer." 



I have heard its song during every 

 month of the year excepting August, 

 when the bird experiences the depression 

 of its annual moult. 



During a fine April morning every 

 wood and spinny in the part of Surrey 

 where I reside rings with the melodious 

 notes of the Throstle, and two or three 

 seasons ago we had a specimen that 

 habitually sang from the top of a cabbage 

 in a field almost surrounded by tall 

 trees. I have heard it sing on ^the 

 ground between bouts of fighting, on 

 the wing, and from a housetop, where a 

 Starling might have been expected to 

 hold forth. It has been timed, and in 

 one instance at least has been found to 

 sing sixteen hours in a single day, and 

 under favourable circumstances some of 

 o 209 



