THRUSH. 
187 
evening, and came again in the morning, they found the 
female seated on her half-finished mansion; and, when she 
flew off for a short time, it was found that she had already 
laid an egg, though the bottom of the nest was the only 
part plastered and completed. When all was finished the 
male bird took his share in the hatching, and though he did 
not sit so long, he was very attentive in feeding her when on 
the nest: the young were hatched in thirteen days. As they 
grew, and required greater supplies, the entrance and retreat 
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. 
Very early in the spring odd eggs are sometimes found 
here and there; and one has been known placed on a branch 
of a tree supported only by a very small portion of moss. 
It frequently is the case that the nest is very conspicuous 
for a time, from being placed among the branches of some 
deciduous shrub, whose anticipated leaves have either been 
too soon calculated on by the bird, dr have been kept back 
by some fortuitous change of weather. It is very light in 
weight, and it is curious how it, and the same applies to the 
nests of other birds, retains its «place when even the strongest 
trees are overthrown by some tremendous gale. 
Mr. John H. Blundell, of Luton, Bedfordshire, informs me 
that he has found the nest of a Thrush in the side of a round 
wheat stack. 
The eggs, usually four or five in number, are of a beautiful 
clear greenish blue colour, with more or fewer distinct black 
spots and dots, principally over the larger end. The youngest 
of my three boys, Marmaduke Charles Frederick Morris, has 
one entirely plain, with the exception of a single dot. They 
vary considerably in size: some are very small. 
Male; length, from about eight inches and a half to nine 
inches and a quarter. The bill is rather large in proportion 
to the size of the bird—along the base of the upper mandible, 
which is of a blackish brown colour, are a few bristly feathers; 
the lower mandible is pale dusky yellowish red. Iris, rich 
dark chesnut brown; a dark streak runs from the bill to it, 
and over it, running from the base of the bill, is a faint 
greyish yellow streak; eyelids, grey. Head on the crown, 
brownish olive, with a tinge of reddish brown; neck in front, 
