CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS* 
117 
THE COMMON THRUSH., 
Or song thrush, as it is sometimes called, the mavis of the 
Scottish poets, and old Eng-lish writers generally, is too 
familiar a bird to need any description. Few, if any, birds 
have a natm^al song at once so sweet and powerful as 
this, and none have a nicer ear and a more retentive memory. 
*Take a young- male, and instruct it carefully by means of a 
flageolet or flute, and it will not only repeat the air played 
to it, but imitate the very tones of the instrument with 
astonishing fidelity. We have heard thrushes thus in- 
structed whose strain seemed to us the very perfection of 
melody, such as only a skilful performer could produce : and 
such a one as this is really a valuable bird ; better than all 
your screeching macaws and screaming parrots, however re- 
splendent may be their plumage, and amusing their tricks. 
Give us the plain, sober-suited, speckled-breasted thrush, 
with its loud sweet song morning and evening, its vesper 
and matin chants, and never a gaudy stranger would we de- 
Vsire, although its plumes might be really, as they sometimes 
seem, veritable sunbeams of the tropics, diffusing light and 
warmth around. If you want to find a thrush's nest you 
should look in a holly tree, or some thick close bush ; it will 
not be far from the ground, but you will most likely have to 
prick your fingers to get at it. The materials are twigs, 
moss, and grass, closely interwoven. On this is a layer of 
cow-dung, covered over with a smooth coating of particles 
of decayed wood, cemented together by glutinous saliva; 
the eggs are light blue, somewhat speckled at the larger end 
with black. You will generally find the first brood fledged by 
the beginning of May, but you should endeavour to get 
.^ithem before tliis, when they are about ten days old, if you 
wish to give them a thorough education. They may be 
brought up without much difficulty upon white bread, 
soaked in milk, and raw lean meat scraped fine, and mixed 
' with it. As soon as they can perch let them be put into 
separate cages, or, better still, turned into an empty room ; 
the young males will soon begin to warble, and may then be 
selected for the musical class. It is difficult, and often im- 
possible by any other means than the song, to determine 
wk'cJ'i Is tn ? cock of this specdes, Tok caanot jtidg'e by tha 
