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Smith, G. / The laboratory; or, School of arts: containing a large collection of valuable secrets, experiments, and manual operations in arts and manufactures, highly useful to gilders, jewellers, enamellers, goldsmiths, dyers, cutlers, pewterers, joiners, japanners, book-binders, plasterers, artists, and to the workers in metals in general; and in plaster of paris, wood, ivory, bone, horn, and other materials
(1799)

[Part XII.] The thrush, or throstle,   pp. 379-380


Page 379


  There are two sorts of black-birds, a black and a
  blackish grey sort; the hen of the black sort is commonly
  as black as the cock of the grey sort ; however, the cocks
  of both are blacker than the hens. The blackest sort axe
  deemed the best, and whistle the longest.
            THE THRUSH, OR THROSTLE.
   OF the thrush kind, there are several, viz. 1. The
 missel, called in Hampshire the storm-cock. 2. Thefeld
 fare. 3. The red-wing. 4. The ring-oi.zel. 5. The mock-
 ihg-thrus , of America. 6. The tb rostle, or common cage-
 thrush, which is the particular subject of this page.
 Of all our singing birds, for sweetness, variety, and me-
 lody of note, none can be compared to the throstle: it
 contin~ues to oblige us with his song for nearly three parts
 of the year. Like the missel, or storm-cock, it delivers
 its music from the top of some high tree but descends to
 some low bush, or thicket, to build its nests, which it con-
 structs of earth, moss, straw, and an internal plaster-work
 of clay. It lays five or six e-ggs, of a pale bluish-green
 colour, marked with dusky spots.
 This bird breeds very soon in the year, and very often
 has young ones in March; they are fed with the same
 food as a- black-bird. He is subject to the cramp, eSpe-
 qialy if kept dirty. When you find them camped, put
 fern in the bottom of their cage, and feed them as they
 lie, and turn up the fern as often as they are fed. If you
 cannotp get fern, put clean straw at the bottom ; and by
 keeping them clean, they will soon come to their legs.
 Feed them also with better victuals, as sheep's heart and
,boiled egg, chopped very small. Though they have been
kinown tq be incapable of standing, for a fortnight.;
                                                    yet,


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