224 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



It is this trait that gives it its name. A break 

 in the frost immediately sends it to the moist 

 meadows, where it procures worms, snails, in- 

 sects, and larva). Our earliest songster as well 

 as earliest breeder, its loud song may often 

 be heard from an ash-top during the most 

 inclement January weather. Although shy and 

 retiring, it becomes bold as the nesting season 

 approaches, draws about the homesteads — 

 frequenting orchards — and prefers sycamores 

 and ashes at no great distance from dwellings. 

 The characteristic call is a harsh " churr," hence 

 the origin of " churr-cock." 



The Throstle, the Mavis — " best beloved and 

 most beautiful of thrushes ! " says Christopher 

 North, watching one of these birds from his 

 study-window at Elleray. 



Looking out now upon the snow, how the 

 bird with mottled breast seems oppressed with 

 the sad labour of living ! What a different 

 picture this from the warm summer evening, 

 when a flood of song burst from every copse, 

 and the Throstle was loudest and clearest of 

 all ! Gone, too, are the shelled-snails, and here 

 everything is iron-bound. Pugnacious no 

 longer, the Blackbird, with satiny coat and 



