Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/108

Rh to the species, but that individual birds may often be distinguished for superior variety, power, and fulness in their notes; there being as much difference in the execution of birds of the same species, as between human voices singing the same air.

We have already mentioned the various fare on which the Thrushes regale; the species before us, while no less omnivorous, feeds with peculiar relish on shelled snails, and especially the common garden-snail, and the wood-snail (Helix hortensis, et H. nemoralis). He breaks the shell against a stone, and extracts the soft animal. Mr. Jesse, in his "Gleanings," has the following observation:— "Thrushes feed much on snails, looking for them in mossy banks. Having frequently observed some broken snail-shells near two projecting pebbles on a gravel-walk, which had a hollow between them, I endeavoured to discover the occasion of their being brought to that situation. At last, I saw a Thrush fly to the spot with a snail-shell in his mouth, which he placed between the two stones, and hammered at it with his beak till he had broken it, and was then able to feed on its contents. The bird must have discovered that he could not apply his beak with sufficient force to break the shell while it was rolling about, and he therefore found out and made use of a spot which would keep the shell in one position."

The nest of the Song-Thrush is an ingenious structure, for though somewhat rough and loose externally, within it presents the appearance of a smooth, hard, cup, quite water-tight. The author