Class IT. MISSEL. 303 



Peny llwyn^ or the mailer of the coppice, as it will 

 drive all the leiTer fpecies of thrufhes from it. 

 The antients believed that the miffeltoe (the bafis of 

 bird-lime) could not be propagated but by the ber- 

 ries that had pad through the body of this bird •, 

 and on that is founded the proverb of Tar^/^j nmlum 

 fihi cacat. 



It may be obferved, that this is the largefl: bird, 

 Britijh or foreign (within our knowledge) that fings 

 or has any melody in its note : the notes of all 

 fuperior being either fcreaming, croaking, chat-= 

 tering, &c. the pigeon kind excepted, whofe flow 

 plaintive continued monotone has fomething fweet- 

 ly foothing in it. Thompfon (the naturalift's poet) 

 in the concert he has formed among the feathered 

 tribe, allows the imperfedion of voice in the larger 

 birds, yet introduces them as ufeful as the bafe in 

 chorus, notwithftanding it is unpleafing by itfelf. 



The jay, the rook, the daw. 

 And each harih pipe (difcordant heard alone) 

 Aid the full concert : while the ftock-dove breaths 

 A melancholy murmur thro' the whole*. 



Seafons, Spring. I. 606. 



X4 hx 



