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ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY. 
every Thrush forget the cares of his family, and betake him- 
self to the branch of a tree to sing lustily for a considerable 
time. 
The Song-Thrush is a tame and confiding bird, and does 
not forget the friends who feed and protect it during the 
winter. Like the Starling, it keeps to the vicinity of the 
houses where food is provided for it during the hard weather, 
and makes its nest in the adjoining trees or ivy. When the 
young are able to fly, they accompany the parent birds and 
feed on the lawns and paths. They devour numbers of insects, 
worms, and especially snails, the shells of which they break 
against a stone or on the hard ground, apparently selecting 
a special spot for this purpose. In the autumn, like other 
Thrushes, they feed largely on fruit. 
Nest. — This is a bulky structure, with a lining quite different 
to that of the Blackbird’s nest. It is composed of grass, with 
a little moss and twigs ; it is then thickly coated inside with 
mud or clay, to which is finally added a second lining of de- 
cayed wood. This is applied in a wet state, and is smoothed 
by the pressure of the bird’s body, and sometimes even before 
it is dry the eggs are laid, but generally a day or two are 
allowed to elapse for the nest to dry before the eggs are 
deposited. 
Egg3. — From four to six in number. Their beautiful blue 
colour is well known to everyone, and the eggs are spotted 
with purplish-brown or black, more rarely with reddish-brown. 
Eggs without spots are not uncommon, and in the British 
Museum are two eggs which have the ground-colour china- 
white with rufous markings. Axis, i -05-1-2 inch; diam., o'B-o-g. 
Our friend Mr. Robert .Read tells us that he once found eight 
eggs in a wood at Durham, which from their colour he judged 
to be the product of two females, as there were two sets of 
four each. He has found four spotless eggs and one normal 
one in the same nest. The occurrence of the eight eggs 
together apparently laid by two hen-birds is interesting, as it is 
known that occasionally the birds build two nests in con- 
junction. (Plate xxx., fig. 1.) 
