SNAILS. 
229 
fruits, but passes a great portion of its time at the bot- 
toms of ditches, seeking for the smaller species of snails 
(helix hortensis and hel. nemoralis), which it draws out 
from the old stumps of the fence with unwearied per- 
severance, dashing their shells to pieces on a stone ; and 
we frequently see it escaping from the hedge bank 
with its prize, which no little intimidation induces it to 
relinquish. The larger kind at this season are beyond 
its power readily to obtain ; for as the cold weather ad- 
vances, they congregate in clusters behind some old 
tree, or against a sheltered wall, fixing the openings of 
their shells against each other, or on the substance be- 
neath, and adhering so firmly in a mass, that the thrush 
cannot by any means draw them wholly, 6r singly, from 
their asylum. In the warmer portion of the year, they 
rest separate, and adhere but slightly ; and should the 
summer be a dry one, the bird makes ample amends for 
the disappointment in winter, intrudes its bill under the 
margin of the opening, detaches them from their hold, 
and destroys them in great numbers. In the summers 
of 1825 and 1826, both hot and dry ones, necessity 
rendered the thrush unusually assiduous in its pursuits; 
and every large stone in the lane, or under the old 
hedge, was strewed with the fragments of its banquet. 
This has more than once reminded me of the fable of 
the “Four Bulls;” united invincible, when separated 
an easy prey ; but, with the exception of this season, 
and this bird, I know no casualty to which the garden 
snail is exposed. 
Ignorant as we are of the scope, limitation, and even 
existence, of certain faculties in animals, we can fre- 
quently do little more than conjecture the means where- 
by they perform many of the functions of life. This 
ignorance leads us naturally at times to refer these 
powers to the agency of senses like our own ; but, in 
most instances, probably without any foundation in 
I truth. No creature seems less qualified to commit the 
depredations which it does, than the garden snail. We 
I grieve to see our fruit mangled and disfigured by these 
creatures, but cannot readily comprehend by what 
means they obtain the knowledge that its maturity is 
