Thrushes of the Lonely Mountain

The birds of the map

The thrushes of the Lonely Mountain enter the story before the story reaches the Mountain. The moon-letters on Thrór's map, read by Elrond at Rivendell, gave instructions for finding the secret door: stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the last light of Durin's Day will fall on the keyhole. The thrush was therefore part of the Dwarves' lore of their own mountain, and when Thorin's company came at last to the hidden ledge on the western slope of Erebor, a large old thrush was already there, cracking snails on the stone. On the evening of Durin's Day it knocked, the sun found the keyhole, and the door opened.

The old thrush and Bard

The old thrush did more than keep an appointment. It was sitting on the ledge when Bilbo came out of the Mountain after his second visit to Smaug and described to the Dwarves the great hollow in the dragon's jewelled waistcoat, over the left breast, and Bilbo noticed the bird cocking its head as if it understood. It did. It flew to Esgaroth and, when Smaug came down on the town, it found Bard, who as a descendant of Girion of Dale had the old gift of understanding the thrushes' speech, and told him where to shoot. The Black Arrow went into the bare patch and Smaug died.

Afterwards the same thrush brought Roäc, chieftain of the ravens, to Thorin, since the Dwarves could not understand its own language; and it is last seen fluttering about the company as the ravens take up its news.

Nature

Balin explained the thrushes to Bilbo. They were a tame and friendly breed of the Mountain and of Dale, kept and valued by the Men of the vale, who used them as messengers and learned their speech. They were very long-lived, and Balin guessed that the old thrush might be one of those alive in Thrór's day, two centuries before, and might well remember the Dwarves. What is stated is that the thrushes had a language, that certain Men could learn it, and that the breed was long-lived; it is not said that the birds had any power beyond that. Thrushes elsewhere in the tales are ordinary birds, and it is only this breed of the Mountain and the vale that shares in the strange intelligence of the ravens and the Eagles.

Fate

With Dale rebuilt under Bard and his heirs, the friendship between the Men of the vale and the thrushes presumably resumed. Nothing more is recorded.

Large thrushes, dark, nearly black, with a pale speckled breast. The old thrush was noticeably big and old. They crack snails on stones, as thrushes do.

A speech of their own, taught to the Men of Dale, who used the birds to carry messages. They were friendly to Dwarves and Men and were not eaten by either.

Not told; an old breed of the Mountain, known to the Dwarves of Thrór's time and to the Men of Dale.

Not recorded after T.A. 2941.