Friend or 
Foe ? 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
(” 4 ) 
Friend or Foe? 
By “LICHEN GREY/' 
The reply of nine out of every ten 
gardeners to the above question at the 
present time would probably be an un¬ 
equivocal “ foe ” as regards the Thrush, 
for all members of the genus turdus are 
notorious fruit-eaters; but, after all, the 
season of small fruits is only a small 
portion of the year, and it is to these 
alone that the common Thrush is inimi¬ 
cal. During more than half of the 
twelve months its food consists almost 
exclusively of snails, worms, slugs, and 
insects, and in helping him to keep these 
in check every thoughtful gardener must 
recognise the Thrush as a friend. Even 
during the summer months its diet is 
largely animal, and if a snail and a ripe 
strawberry be placed before a hungry 
Thrush at any time it will eat the former 
in preference to the latter. To the 
farmer the Thrush is nothing but a 
friend, continually engaged in ridding 
his crops of some pest or other; and the 
same may be said of the nurseryman 
and he who devotes his attentions to the 
Photo by] [L. Grey. 
The Nest Builder. 
“ Oft an unintruding guest, 
I watched her secret toils from day to day.” 
cultivation of flowers. Overlooking his 
predilection for berries, the Thrush has 
not a single bad trait in his character, 
and if we place his petty larcenies in 
autumn to the debit of his account, with 
how much is he entitled to have it 
credited for his song in spring? It was 
Byron who wrote “ Tis sweet to be 
awakened by the Thrush,” and who is 
there who would not endorse the senti¬ 
ment? But if the song is so pleasing 
to mankind, who can guess dimly at the 
meaning of the language, how much 
sweeter must it sound in the attuned ears 
of his mate | How runs it ? Macgilliv- 
ray translated it as follows :— 
u Dear, dear, dear, 
Is the rocky glen ; 
Far away, far away, far away 
The haunts of men. 
Here shall we dwell in love, 
With the lark and the dove, 
Cuckoo and corn-rail ; 
Feast on the banded snail, 
Worm and gilded fly. 
Photo by] IY* Grey. 
The Thrush’s Tonic. 
“ To clear her warbling throate, 
The Throstle takes the snayle.” 
