I used these resources when researching the annotations for this fairy tale. Most should be available through your local library, but I have included links to the titles on Amazon.com for further reading.

Alsop III, Fred J. Smithsonian Birds of North America. New York: DK Publishing Inc, 2001.

Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism. James Hulbert, translator. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1996.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Franz, Marie-Louise Von. The Interpretation of Fairy Tales. Boston: Shambala, 1996.

Miller, Gustavus. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Dreams. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1994.

Paradiz, Valerie. Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Rowe, Karen. "Feminism and Fairy Tales". Don't Bet on the Prince. Jack Zipes, editor. NY: Routledge, 1989. 209-226.

Snyder, Midori. "The Armless Maiden and the Hero's Journey." Journal of The Mythic Arts. Endicott Studio. Winter 2006.
URL: http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrHJourney.html.
Accessed on 28 March 2006.

Tatar, Maria M. The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton: Princeton University, 1987.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

"Thrush". Answers.com. 2006.
URL: www.answers.com/topic/thrush.
Accessed on 23 Sept 2006.

Zipes, Jack. Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales. [Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1979.] Revised. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Zipes, Jack, editor. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Zipes, Jack, ed. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.