THE SONG-THllUSn. 
and the neck and "breast dingy yellow, spotted with triangular 
dark-brown spots. A black stripe extends down each side of 
the throat. The only difference in the appearance of the male 
and female birds is, that the latter is somewhat smaller, the 
brown of the upper parts of the body is not so deep, nor so 
glossy. 
If you wish to teach a thrush to “ pipe,” you must begin as 
soon as he is fledged, taking care even that during the first few 
weeks of his life he is not allowed to hear the voice of one of 
his own species ; for, if he once acquires his natural note, you 
will find considerable difficulty in making him discard it 
for the sake pf your artificial music. A flute, or an ordinary 
tin whistle, is the best instrument with which to teach the 
thrush. You need not, however, as in the case of the bull- 
finch, blackbird, and some others, rise at daybreak to give your 
pupil his lesson ; a bright warm afternoon will do very well, 
only it will be as well to cover up his cage, so as totally to 
exclude the fight, for an hour before you begin. 
Some thrushes possess imitative powers to a marvellous 
degree ; tunes played on wind instruments, or whistled by the 
mouth, they will catch up and learn with a precision that is 
astounding. I have read and been told many stories, some 
ludicrous, some grave, concerning this faculty of the thrush ; 
but the most curious and interesting is the following, furnished 
me by a friend at Manchester, a person on whose veracity I 
can rely. 
There lived, on the skirts of the city, a thriving wood- 
chopper ; he had a capital business, employed several hands, 
and his workshop adjoined his dwelling-house. He was a 
particularly cheerful man, and from morning till night the din 
made by his chopper, and by the choppers of Ins boys, was 
rivalled by his incessant singing and whistling. Well, one day, 
in spite of his thriving business, in spite of his cheerfulness 
and singing and whistling, the wood-chopper committed suicide. 
To the surprise and dismay of his wife and his workmen, he 
was found hanging to a beam. 
The wood- chopper’s wife was a woman of business ; there- 
fore, after having her husband’s body removed to the house, 
and allowing the workpeople an hour or two to discuss the 
calamity, she set them to work again. It was a sultry 
summer afternoon, and, what with the heat, and the sight of 
the ugly beam, and the thought as to what had so shortly 
before been hanging there, the choppers rose and fell very 
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