Throttle forge

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A throttle forge, recorded in the Vienna Woods.

A thrush forge (occasionally snail smithy ) is a stone on which thrushes and other songbirds smash snail shells in order to get to their contents.

The song thrush in particular , but also other members of the thrush family, are avid eaters and thus natural predators of cepaea snails . Since they are unable to destroy the shell with their beak or to swallow the snail completely, they look for a suitable stone on which they can then smash the snail shell.

Since the thrushes always return to the same stone, one can easily identify a throttle forge by the accumulated remains of the snail shells.

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