218 BRITISH BIRDS. 



its nest is approaclied, or when disturbed at roost, are harsh chattering 

 cries, ahiiost like those of the Missel-Thrush, yet uttered more rapidly, and 

 perhaps more metallic in sound. 



One of the first birds, after winter has passed, to cross a twig as a 

 beginning of its nest is the Song-Thrush. March has scarcely arrived 

 ere we notice the first rude foundation of this charming songster's cradle. 

 We find it in every species of evergreen far more frequently than amongst 

 the branches of deciduous trees : — in the trailing ivy on walls or rocks or 

 growing up the trunks of trees at various heights from the ground; in 

 the dark-mantled yew, the laurel, and, perhaps most frequently of all, in 

 the green branches of the holly. It is also placed on the ground on banks, 

 in whitethorn trees and hedgerows, and more rarely on walls. A favourite 

 situation is against the trunk of a tree, upon a bunch of little branches 

 that partially conceal it. Here the bird may often be seen sitting close, with 

 tail pointing one way and beak the other, each at the same angle to the plane 

 of the nest, and you may pass almost under it or even catch the bird's eye 

 if you walk quietly past, without causing it to leave its eggs. The nest is 

 a bulky structure, and composed outwardly of dry grass, with generally a 

 few twigs and sometimes a little moss. This grass-formed nest is then 

 lined with a thick coating of mud or clay, and sometimes cow's dung, with 

 decayed wood as a final lining. As the Song-Thrush is the only Tlirush 

 that lines its nest in this peculiar manner, a detailed description of the 

 process may not be out of place. Decaying fences and tree-roots, or 

 rotten branches torn from the trees by the wintry blasts, are the source 

 from, which the bird obtains a supply of this material. When her nest 

 has arrived at a certain stage, she repairs to this decaying wood for the 

 means of completing her handiwork. She choses those logs, fences, or 

 roots already well saturated with moisture ; or failing to find them in this 

 state, she moistens the wood in the nearest water. Bit by bit it is convej^ed 

 to her nest, and there, by the aid of pressure, she moulds it with her body, 

 forming a lining in some instances an eighth of an inch in thickness, and 

 which, from the warmth of the sitting bird, soon becomes hard and 

 dry. Nests are, however, met with where this lining is very scanty — pro- 

 bably from the scarceness of decaying wood. When finished the nest is 

 usually left for a day or so to dry ere the first egg is deposited. Several 

 days are employed in its construction, although in rare instances it is 

 begun and finished in a single day. Dixon gives the following in the 

 article on the Song-Thrush in his ' Rural Bird-Life : ' — " I found a nest of 

 the Song-Thrush in a small yew bush, and in a very exposed situation, 

 which I removed. Three days afterwards I again visited the place, and 

 was surprised to find that the birds had almost completed a fresh nest. I 

 removed this also, and visited the place the following day, when I was still 

 further surprised to find that the little songsters had almost completed a 

 third nest, so attached were the little architects to their somewhat ill-chosen 



