188 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



season, on the other hand, it feeds exclusively on insects and their 

 larvae, earthworms, and snails. It accordingly frequents by preference 

 moist localities, where the ground is covered with the decaying foliage of 

 the previous year, and where there is never any dearth of its favourite 

 food. For the same reason, it prefers places where there is a thick 

 growth of bushes, which, moreover, afford protection from enemies, etc. 

 As its food consists exclusively of soft substances, the bill is weak and 

 awl- shaped. The bird uses it energetically in turning up the leafy 

 covering of the soil. At the base of the beak, as in the nightingale, are 

 found bristle-like feathers which function as tactile organs. The legs are 

 long and powerful, enabling the bird to hop for hours long from branch 

 to branch. The nest is large and built in a hedge out of dry sticks, 

 moss, and damp earth. The blackbird produces several clutches of 

 eggs annually, otherwise it would be speedily exterminated by shrikes, 

 squirrels, and other predatory animals. The flute-like notes of the male 

 may, therefore, be heard from the earliest spring till well into autumn. 

 (Compare with lark.) 



Allied Species. 



The finest songster among the thrushes is the Song Thrush (Turdus 

 musicus). The plumage of this bird is olive-coloured above, lighter 

 coloured, with brown, heart-shaped spots, on the under side. It chiefly 

 lives in woods. A very similar bird is the Mistle Thrush (T. viscevorus), 

 which in autumn feeds chiefly on mistletoe berries. The undigested 

 seeds of the berries are deposited with the droppings on the branches of 

 other trees, so that the bird involuntarily spreads the parasitic plant. 

 The Fieldfare (T. pilaris) is also a bird of inconspicuous plumage, which 

 breeds more especially in Northern countries. It arrives in Britain 

 in autumn in large flocks, and ia caught in snares (springes). The flesh 

 has a somewhat bitter taste owing to the fact that the bird feeds largely 

 on juniper berries. Thousands of song-birds annually share a similar 

 fate. Everyone who" loves Nature and recognises the immense services 

 which these birds render in the destruction of insects must condemn 

 these wholesale massacres as a disgrace and an abomination. 



Family 6: Shrikes (Laniidae). 



The Red-Backed Shrike (Lanius collurio). 



(Length 7 inches.) 



This bird is a wolf in sheep's clothing ; by its shape and voice, it must 

 be classed among the song-birds, but in its mode of life it is a bird of prey 



