CHAP. LXIII.
Of the Throstle.
THe Throstle is a bird knowne to euery one, and she is as good to be ea∣ten, as to sing: she maketh her nest in hils full of snow and ice, vpon high trees: it is made of the mosse of the wood mingled with earth, and fashioned of a round forme with singular cunning, in the middest thereof they leaue a hole, to the end that it may not fill with water through long and continuall raine, which might proue to the drowning of her young ones. They breed thrice a yeare, as other birds do, that is, in Aprill, May, and Iune.
The Throstle taken in the nest must be kept and fed in like manner as the solitarie Sparrow, as well whiles they are young and small, as when they become old and great ones. Furthermore, you must know that the Throstle is a great deale more deli∣cate and fine than the solitarie sparrow, and hath tenderer bones. So that to preserue and keepe her aliue, she must bee kept very neate and cleane. See that the Throstle which you would bring vp and keepe, be a great one, and well feathered: for if you chuse her great, and that she begin to eate alone, and to mout, you shall bee the more able to bring her vp, and she will proue the better.
You must note also, that there are three ••orts of Throstles: those which are best to bring vp for singers, are rather the little ones, than the others, and those which are of a browne and darke coloured feather, called in Italian Tordi sasso••i. On the con∣trarie, those which are nothing worth to sing, are much greater, and their feathers of a whiter colour, called by the Italians, Tordelli, which in my iudgement are better for the bellie than the eare.