; g ^EM., Food of Eu,'oj,ean Birds. [jan. 



anterior two or three and the last, affords insertion to four groups 

 of sliort bristles, to which muscles are attached, and by means ot 

 which the worm progresses. The bristles may be made to pomt 

 in either direction, according as the worm wishes to advance or 

 retreat When pointed toward the tail, they hold the worm as it 

 crawls ahead; when directed ahead, they give foothold for 

 retrograde movement. 



Now a person would suppose that the presence of several 

 hundred little bristles, all pointing the ' wrong way,' would inter- 

 fere with easy and pleasurable deglutition; and masmuch as a 

 worm, normally, crawls ahead, and not back, I expected to see my 

 Thrush swallow worms head first, when, it is to be presumed, the 

 bristles in question would not retard the process. As a matter of 

 fact the contrary method, as noted above, was followed. Once m 

 a while, a small worm was seized by the middle and doubled, or 

 taken by the head ; but careful observation, extending over several 

 days, brought out so few instances of this kind that I am con- 

 vinced it was a rule with the bird to swallow earthworms tail first. 

 The fact that the worm often made some progress in its attempt 

 to escape from the bird's mouth would indicate that the bristles 

 were in working order, despite rough treatment, and that they were 

 pointed back, toward the tail of the worm. From this we must 

 infer, either that the bird was indifferent to the rasping of the 

 bristles on the walls of its throat, or that the sharp resistance they 

 exhibited added spice and flavor to the writhing morsel. But, for 

 all that, any explanation is merely conjecture, and why the Hermit 

 Thrush should choose to begin its meal with the tail of its victim 

 remains a curious, though not a profound, subject for speculation. 



Skipping the western types, our eastern Turdus '■'fallasi" 

 comes next. Nearly all the names of this shy and solitary bird 

 refer to its habit of haunting for the most part the undergrowth 

 of secluded and damp woods. Its small size and distinguishingly 

 reddish tail supply the rest. Following is the list : Hermit or 

 Solitary Thrush; Grive or Merle solitaire (Canada) ; Ground 

 Swamp Robin (Maine) ; Little Swamp Robin and Rufous- 

 tailed Thrush. BnU. N.O.O. 8.APU. l88S,p. 73- 



