Wild Birds Useful and Injurious. 
675 
The blackbird’s beautiful mellow song, leisurely uttered, is 
in itself no slight recompense for the loss of strawberries and 
currants. 
The Song-thrush, Throstle, or Mavis (fl'wrdus mvsicus) is in 
many respects similar in its habits to the blackbird. It is not, 
however, such an inveterate robber of fruit, and it appears to 
destroy a greater quantity of snails. Its habit of breaking the 
shells of these objectionable pests, and also those of marine 
molluscs, on some convenient stone has often been observed. 
These sacrificial altars may be found surrounded by a quantity 
of broken shells ; showing that the same stone is frequently re- 
sorted to when it has once given satisfaction. The food of 
the throstle otherwise resembles that of the blackbird, con- 
sisting chiefly of worms, insects, fruit, and wild berries ; and 
I have seen one pecking at a small flr-cone, doubtless with the 
object of obtaining the seeds. In vine countries it feasts royally 
on ripe grapes. 
Its nest may be recognised at a glance by the carefully 
rounded cup-shaped lining of mud, on which are deposited the 
rich blue eggs, almost invariably spotted with black. Occa- 
sionally the markings are brown, and, in some rare instances, 
are altogether absent. The nest is usually constructed in a 
hedge or bush, but sometimes in a stone wall or other less con- 
ventional situation. I have found two nests on the ground, one 
sheltered by a tussock of coarse grass, the other amongst a 
luxuriant growth of strongly smelling ramps or garlic. 
The throstle is a beautiful songster, and its voice exhibits 
great power, quality of tone, and variety. Its notes readily 
suggest articulate speech ; and the discomfited traveller, hurry- 
ing along the country road at his very best pace to catch a 
train, may hear it say very plainly : “ Go it ! — Go it ! — Stick to 
it ! ” then with great and increasing conviction, “ You’ll do it ! 
—You’ll do it !— You’ll do it ! ” 
The Song-thrush is to a great extent a migrant ; and this 
fact accounts for its persistent presence in gardens when the 
fruit is ripe. Even after large numbers have been killed, fresh 
ai-rivals take the place of the slaughtered birds. The same 
applies to the blackbird, though it is not perhaps so essentially 
a migrant as the throstle. Both species are very fond of 
frequenting turnip fields in the autumn, and are met with in 
large numbers by sportsmen in pursuit of partridges. Under 
these circumstances their abrupt and sudden rising is productive 
of considerable flurry in nervous or inexperienced marksmen. 
The Mistletoe-thrush, or Missel-thrush (TwnZtts viscivorus), is 
the largest of the common British members of the family. It has 
