TURDUS MUSICUS, Linn, 
Thrush, 
Turdus miisicus, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 79. 
philomelos, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p. 382. 
Sylvia musica, Savi, Orn. Tosc., tom. i. p. 211. 
Merida musica, Selb. 111. Brit. Orn., vol. i. p. 162. 
On no one of our native birds have more poetical effusions been written than the Thrush. Nor is this 
surprising, for it is one of the earliest of the spring birds to serenade us in our gardens, to pour forth its 
powerful notes in our woods, and to enliven our hedgerows with its wondrous song. From February 
until August, with but little intermission, its voice gladdens our islands, from the far west to the most 
eastern promontory, from the southern islet of Hampshire to Caithness and the Hebrides. Everywhere the 
tameness of its disposition and the melody of its song procure it friends and protectors. I believe there is 
no other member of the genus to which this bird belongs that can compete with it in the vigour and 
volubility of its notes. Its power in this respect appears to he so perfectly innate, that the young display 
it when only a few months old ; but of course their tones are far less spirited and varied than those of the 
old males, when they take up a position in the woods and sing against each other during the sitting of the 
females ; so soon, however, as the eggs are hatched, their songs are less frequently heard, and both sexes 
become fussy and attentive to the little ones, which soon grow to the size of their pcirents, and resemble them 
in their colours and markings. The young being able to shift for themselves, another nest is commenced, 
and the birds breed a second time ; hence it is that the woods ring with the song of the males as merrily in 
June as they did in April. After this, both old and young leave the Avoods and betake themselves to open 
fields of turnips and other crops, where the damp ground affords them an abundant supply of snails, worms, 
and insects. It is a question whether some of them, both old and young, do not at this season entirely quit 
the drier districts for others of a more humid character; they certainly do so in some parts of our island; 
we also knoAV that in autumn great numbers arrive from foreign parts, probably from Norway and Sweden. 
On the continent the Thrush is a more regular migrant than with ns, and during its passage south the bird 
is unmercifully shot and taken in springes for the purposes of the table. In Belgium Thrush-catching is 
quite an institution, and many persons and even families take to the woods for the purpose. The following 
interesting account of this practice has been kindly communicated to me by Mr. Box, a friend already 
mentioned in this work, and who for a long time resided in Belgium and the Ardennes. 
“ La Tenderie- 
-Grme- or Thrush-catching in Belgium. 
Fig. 2. 
“The Thrush is a great source of amusement to the middle, and of profit to the lower, classes during its 
autumnal migration. Many families of Liege, Luxemburg, Limburg, Namur, parts of Hainault and Brabant, 
choose this season for their period of relaxation from business, and devote themselves to the taking of this 
bird with horse-hair springes. The shop-keeper of Liege and Verviers, whose house in the town is the 
model of comfort and cleanliness, resorts Avith his wife and children to one or two rooms in a miserable country 
village to enjoy the sport lie has been preparing for Avlth their help during the long evenings of the preceding 
Avinter ; in the course of which he has made as many as from 5000 to 10,000 horse-hair springes, and prepared 
as many pieces of flexible wood, rather thicker than a swan-quill, in and on which to hang them. He hires 
Avhat he calls his ‘Tenderie,’ being four or five acres of underAvood about three to five years old, pays 
some thirty shillings for permission to place his springes ; and his 
greatest ambition is to retain for several years the same ‘Tenderie’ and 
the same lodgings which he improves in comfort from year to year. The 
springes being made and the season of migration near, he goes for a day 
to his intended place of sojourn, and cuts as many tAvigs about 18 inches 
in length as he intends to hang springes on : there are two methods 
of hanging them ; in one the tAvig is bent into the form of the figure 6 
(fig. 1), the tail end running through a slit cut in the upper part of the 
twig ; the other method is to sharpen a twig at both ends and insert the 
points into a groAA^er or stem of underwood, thus forming a bow of Avhich 
the stem forms the string (fig. 2) ; beloAv the springe, and hanging from 
the lower part of the how, is jilaced a small branch with three or four berries of the mountain ash (there 
called Sorbier ') ; this is fixed to the hoAV by inserting the stalk into a slit in the Avood. The hirer of a new 
Fig. 1. 
