SONG-THRTJSH. 



11 tj 



orange yellow : legs light brown* This bird is sub- 

 ject to slight variations : there is a specimen, 

 which belonged to the late Colonel Montagu, in 

 the British Museum, that is of a dull colour 

 above ; paler beneath, with the usual shaped spots 

 of the same colour as the back : it has also been 

 found entirely of a pure white. 



This is a well known and much admired bird in 

 this country, on account of its melodious notes, 

 which it commences early in February, and con- 

 tinues near nine months : it is a solitary species 

 with us, never uniting into flocks, as many of the 

 genus do, although it has been observed to pass 

 through Livonia, Courland, and Prussia, in great 

 numbers, about Michaelmas, in their way to the 

 Alps : in France it is migratory, visiting Burgundy 

 when the grapes are ripe, and committing great 

 ravages amongst the vineyards : it has also been 

 observed to shift its quarters in England in the 

 winter season. 



The food of the Throstle consists of insects 

 and berries; it is also particularly fond of 

 snails, which it breaks against stones to extract 

 the animals from the shells: its nest is built in 

 March; it is placed on a stump of a tree, very 

 near the ground, or against the side of a tree, and 

 frequently in a hedge, or solitary bush, and is 

 made of dried grass and green moss externally, 

 and plastered within with rotten wood, mixed 

 with cow-dung, or clay, which is so compact as to 

 hold water, which occasionally proves fatal to their 

 eggs, which are four or five in number, of a blue 



