The song-thrush, which is also known as the throstle and mavis, is a shapely bird, easily recognisable by its grey, spotted breast (Fig. 196), which may be seen all the year round in wooded parts of the country. The male and female are very similar in appearance, and of almost equal size, measuring 8 or 9 inches from head to tail. The thrush generally feeds on the ground, hopping along on a pair of sturdy legs and feet, seizing and pulling out worms which incautiously show themselves at the mouths of their burrows, and catching insects and snails. A thrush usually has a favourite stone on which it cracks the shells of snails, and it is not uncommon to find, near the stone, a little heap of broken snail-shells—the remains of many a feast. In winter, when the summer diet can no longer be obtained, the thrush subsists largely upon the fruit of hawthorn, mistletoe, etc. Its beak, as is usual with birds, is distinctly adapted [Pg 304] to the capture of its food, being, in this case, narrow, round, and fairly long. The thrush is a strong and rather rapid flier. Fig. 196.—Song-Thrush. (× ⅙). Thrushes begin to sing at the first signs of spring, pairing and commencing the work of nest-building in February or early March. The throstle’s song is surpassed by very few birds; and many people consider it equal, if not superior, to the nightingale’s. The song begins before sunrise, and may be heard when almost all other birds have retired to rest. The thrush has a curious habit of repeating each strain two or three times, “lest,” as Browning says, “you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture.” Many attempts have been made to imitate the song by words; Mr. R. Kearton[21] quotes with approval the following rendering by the famous Scottish naturalist Macgillivray: “Qui qui qui kweeu quip, Tiurru tiurru chipiwi, Too-tee, too-tee, chiu choo, Chirri chirri chooee Quiu qui qui.” [Pg 305] But, as Mr. Kearton remarks, “no human words can ever represent, especially in cold type, the passionate vehemence, the sprightliness, or the tender pleading of a thrush’s song.” Fig. 197.—Nest of Song-Thrush. (× ⅓).