THRUSHES. 
205 
previous peckings had attracted to the surface, to 
escape the approach of what the poor worm thought 
might be his underground enemy, the mole. But 
to return to the young Throstles in the shed. In 
this case the food was not worms, but snails. The 
old ones brought them in their shells, from which 
they cleared them, by breaking the shell with a 
smart knock on the tooth of the harrow, catching the 
snail, without, in one instance letting it fall. They 
now and then varied the feast with a few worms, 
and occasionally with butterflies and moths. As is 
usual with almost all birds, the old ones were in- 
variably seen to carry away the dung of the young 
birds, which might otherwise, by its accumulation, 
be a great inconvenience. They would, however, be 
unable to do this, were it not for a curious natural 
precaution, namely, that the dung of young birds is 
voided in a thin tenacious bladder or bag, which can 
be removed without breaking. As the young grew, 
and required greater supplies, the entrance and re- 
treat of the old ones through the door was so rapid 
that it could scarcely be seen, but was only known 
by the sound, as they darted over the heads of the 
men; another proof of the rapidity of* flight, of even 
the slower flying birds, when urged by necessity. 
The above fact, of Thrushes feeding on shell-fish, 
has been corroborated by the observations of a 
naturalist, who on the shores of the Hebrides, on 
the western coast of Scotland, found small heaps of 
shells belonging to two particular species, whelks and 
periwinkles, always broken, but without the animal, 
although many appeared quite fresh. On frightening 
away a Throstle, which he had seen engaged in 
