THRUSH. 21 



The song of this Bird is much esteemed, and consists of a great 

 variety of notes, which it begins early in Spring, often in the month 

 of February,* when the weather is mild, and continues at times for 

 near nine months ; and we may often observe this pleasing Songster 

 perched on some tall tree, sweetly beguiling the footsteps of the 

 listening traveller. It builds likewise early, commonly the beginning 

 of April, and not unfrequently in March ,t the nest composed of 

 earth, moss, and straw intermixed, with a lining of clay, and lays five 

 or six bluish green eggs, marked with a few spots of black, chiefly at 

 the larger end, and weighing each from eighty to ninety grains ; 

 length one inch and a quarter. The nest is generally near the 

 ground, either on the stump of a tree, or against the side of it, and 

 frequently in a hedge or low bush ; it is sometimes found so compact 

 as to hold water ; and in a rainy season the nest has been found so 

 full of water, as to deluge the eggs, and of course spoil them. 



This is a solitary species, never uniting, with us, into flocks, like 

 the Fieldfare and Redwing; yet in France is said to be migratory,J 

 coming into the province of Burgundy twice in a year ; the first time 

 when the grapes are ripe, and doing much damage to the vineyards ;§ 

 disappearing with the first frosts : they appear also in April, and 

 most of them depart in May, leaving a very few behind, which are 

 observed to breed, || are not uncommon in Spain, and a few stragglers 

 appear on the Isthmus of Gibraltar in winter, but the interior woody, 



* Mr. Tunstall once heard one in December, in a mild season. 



t In a Letter from Birmingham, it is said, " last week was found in a garden, near 

 Chester, a Throstle's nest with four eggs, on which the hen was sitting." — Saint James's 

 Chronicle, Jan. 23. 1796. 



% It probably shifts its quarters in winter, in the North of England and Scotland, as Dr. 

 Heysham, of Carlisle, never met with one during the winter season, and seems inclined to 

 think, that it either leaves that country in winter, or retires to the most thick and solitary 

 woods ; but at the latter end of February it is found there in great plenty. Mr. Ekmarck 

 observes, that incredible numbers of the Song and Missel Thrushes, and Fieldfares, are seen 

 to pass through Livonia, Courland, and Russia, for a fortnight after Michaelmas, making 

 their way as far as the Alps. — Ammn. ac. iv. p. 578. 



§ Hence called Grive de Vigne— Hist. Ois. || Met with at Aleppo.— Russel. 



