THE UING-DO\-E. 381 



device to get witliiu guusliot. lu the evening they retire to the woods to roost, preferring 

 those of the fir tribe and ash to any other ; and in these nocturnal retreats great slaughter 

 is sometimes committed, by waiting in concealment their arri\'al, which regularly takes 

 place immediately after sunset. 



The first mild weather in February produces an immediate effect upon these congregated 

 pio-eous, and we may almost calculate to a day when their cooing and plaintive murmurs 

 wiU again be heard in their wonted summer haunts. The flocks are now seen daily to 

 decrease in magnitude, and in a short time every wood and copse becomfis peopled with 

 the numerous pairs of this lovely bird. The male soon after commences a flight peculiar 

 to the season of courtship and love ; this is a rising and falling in the air, by alternate 

 movements, in which flight, and when at tlie greatest elevation, the upper surfaces of the 

 wings are brought so forcibly into contact, as to be heard at a considerable distance. 

 Nidification soon follows this wcU-known signal, and by the end of April, the yoimg in 

 many instances are fully fledged and ready to quit the nest. Few, however, of the early 

 brood, comparatively speaking, attain maturity, as the eggs at this season, from the naked 

 state of the woods, are earlj' discovered by the prying eye and inquisitive habits of the 

 cunidng magpie and predacious carrion ci-ow. 



The nest of the cushat is a flimsy fabric, being a mere platform of small twigs loosely 

 interwoven, so open, indeed, that the eggs, in one newly built, and before it becomes 

 thickened by the droppings of the brood, may be seen through it from beneath ; 

 and so slight is the central depression that it frequently happens, where the incubating 

 bird is suddenly disturbed, the eggs, in the hurry to escape, are tumbled from the nest, 

 and perish upon the ground. The site selected for nidification is various, and no tree or 

 bush seems to come amiss at certain periods of the year. In early spring, however, and 

 before the deciduous trees acquire their lunbrageous and leafy covering, firs and other 

 evergreens are preferred, on account of the better concealment and protection they 

 aftbrd. From this diversity of site, the nest is necessarily placed at various elevations, 

 at one time being far removed from the ground, as when it is built near the summit of a 

 lofty spruce, or 'in the thick foliage of a beech or sycamore ; at another, scarcely out of 

 reach, and but a few feet from the earth, as we find it in the holly, the young fir, the 

 the thorn, or other bushy trees. The eggs, always two in number, are white, of an 

 oblong form, and roimded nearly equally at both ends. Incubation lasts from eighteen 

 to twenty days, and both sexes sit alternately, the male taking the place of his mate 

 when hunger compels her to quit the nest, and so rice versa. When first extruded, the 

 young are blind, and their skin, ofca blue or livid colour, thinly covered with a harsh j'eUow 

 down. In this tender state, they are long and assiduously brooded over by the parent 

 birds, and are fed with a milky pulp, ejected from the crop, where the food undergoes a 

 partial digestion, preparatory to its being given to them. As they gain strength and 

 become fledged, food is more frequently supplied, and, consequently, from its not 

 remaininff so long in the craw of the old bird, in a less and less comminuted form, till 

 at length, previous to their finally quitting the nest, it is administered in a state but 

 little altered from that in which it is first swallowed by the old birds. 



The cushat is a wary bird, of powerful wing, not easily approached even in the 

 forest glades, yet not seldom building in groves or groiips of trees in the immediate 

 vicinity of human dwellings ; and a gentle pair has been observed sitting for hours upon 

 the branches of an almost leafless sycamore in early spring, preening their feathers in 

 assured confidence, within a few footsteps of the cottage door. Indeed, we have often 

 noticed, as others must have also done, what may be called the discriiiiination of bii'ds, in 

 relation both to persons and to places. We allude to what we should call their accommo- 

 dating rather than their natural instincts ; how, for example, after a season or two of 

 observation or experience, they will congregate around a spot where no rude hands 



