THE THRUSHES. 
73 
and head with such vehemence as to drive him quite 
away from the spot. The Brown Thrush also finds 
an enemy in the Blacksnake, which quietly and almost 
unobserved crawls into the nest for the purpose of 
making a meal of the eggs or young. But no sooner 
do the old birds catch sight of him, than a general 
uproar ensues ; other thrushes in the vicinity assem- 
ble at the cry of distress and boldly assault the in- 
truder, fairly pecking the eyes from his head, and it 
may be well for the poor snake if he escapes without 
being stretched lifeless upon the ground. 
An anecdote is told of a Thrush, of what species 
we are uncertain, who had built her nest near the 
spot where some rocks were being blown with pow- 
der. At first, whenever the blast would explode she 
was disturbed by the fragments of rock flying in all 
directions, but still she would not leave the spot. At 
length observing that just before the explosion there 
was a bell rung, upon which the miners immediately 
withdrew to a place of safety, she concluded to fol- 
low their example; accordingly, when the bell rung 
she retired to the spot where the workmen were shel- 
tered, and dropped close to their feet, remaining 
until the explosion had taken place, when she re- 
turned to her nest. The story of her sagacity was 
soon told, and visitors wished to gratify themselves 
by observing the bird. But as explosions could not 
be produced whenever they pleased, the bell was 
rung instead, which for a time answered the purpose ; 
but the bird was not to be so trifled with ; she re- 
fused to leave her eggs merely to amuse her visitors, 
7 
