THE BIUDS OF TEUUICK HOUSE. 27 



attention of the most incurious to its " whereabouts." It likewise contrives 

 to attract attention in another way, being seemingly anxious to improve 

 every opportunity of doing so ; for, on the appearance of a suspicous charac- 

 ter in its neighbourhood, and not unfrequently, indeed, on the appearance of 

 a character above suspicion, it delivers itself of a vast amount of angry 

 expostulation ; no swell-mob's man, caught in the act of picking pockets at a 

 race or fair, is greeted with harsher sounds, or more hearty maledictions, 

 than those which our friend viscivorus bestows upon cats, weasels, magpies, 

 and all such " light fingered gentry," when, in quest of eggs, young birds, 

 or other plunder, they have entered upon his " domain." Instances have 

 been known, and. recorded in The Naturalist, of this bird preserving a 

 quiet and peaceable demeanour during the breeding season ; such instances 

 must, however, I think, be considered rather as exceptions, than as the rule. 



The song of the Missel Thrush is loud, and, from its being one of the first 

 to break the silence which winter imposes upon the feathered tribes, the 

 notes are pleasing, although there is not much variety in them. Early in 

 January, if the weather be at all mild, this song may be heard, and, by 

 those who give but little attention to the singing of birds, is often erro- 

 neously ascribed to the Blackbird ; a practised ear will, however, readily 

 detect the difference. Its melody is given from the top of a lofty tree, and 

 occasionally while flying from one tree to another. When the breeding 

 season is over, families of these birds collect together after the manner of 

 the Starlings, though not in such immense numbers; the flocks consisting of 

 from ten or twelve, to thirty or forty individuals : these are not unfrequently 

 mistaken for an early appearance of Fieldfares. 



Missel Thrushes may be said to reside permanently with us ; although a 

 migration, or more propeiiy, a dispersion of the young birds, unquestionably 

 takes place : an All-wise regulation, which pi-events any one district from 

 being over-crowded ; thus removing the liability to innumerable evils, which 

 would otherwise constantly exist. In very severe winters, these birds, in 

 common with others of the Thrush kind, sufifer from an insufficient suj^ply 

 of food ; they are, however, able to hold out longer than most of the other 

 species, the Redwings especially, as might be expected from their being 

 far more robust and hardy-looking birds. I never met with more than one 

 instance in which this bird appeared to have been actually famished ; while 

 the poor Redwings often come to that deplorable end. 



Low down in a juniper we find the nest of the Hedge-Warbler, or Dunnock. 

 (Accentor modularis.) Nests of this species are usually composed of small 

 sticks, green moss, and wool, with fibrous roots and straws, or stalks of 

 coarse grass. They vary much in neatness of construction ; some are rather 

 skilfully put together, and finished with great taste. The lining consists 

 more frequently, perhaps, of cow-hair, than any other material: sometimes a 

 sort of felt is made of moss and wool, and, as I have seen in a few instances, 



