252 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



Again he pauses ; listens again ; hops, perhaps once or twice, 

 scarcely moving his position, and pecks smartly on the sod ; 

 then is once more motionless as a stuffed bird. But he knows 

 well what he is about; for, after another moment's pause, 

 having ascertained that all is right, he pecks away with might 

 and main, and soon draws out a fine worm, which his fine 

 sense of hearing had informed him was not far off, and which 

 his hops and previous peckings had attracted to the surface, 

 to escape the approach of what the poor worm thought might 

 be his underground enemy, the mole." 



The Missel The Missel Thrush, so called from its fondness 

 Thrush. f or the mistletoe, is larger than the common or 

 song thrush, less melodious and not so common in England, 

 but well known upon the continent of Europe. Like the 

 song thrush it finds a determined enemy in the magpie, 

 against which it often defends itself with success. It is, how- 

 ever, unable to withstand a combined attack. Gilbert White 

 says : "The Missel-thrush is, while breeding, fierce and pugna- 

 cious, driving such birds as approach its nest with great fury 

 to a distance. The Welsh call it "pen y llwyn," the head 

 or master of the coppice. He suffers no magpie, jay, or 

 blackbird, to enter the garden where he haunts; and is, for 

 the tune, a good guard to the new-sown legumens. In general, 

 he is very successful in the defence of his family; but once 

 I observed in my garden, that several magpies came deter- 

 mined to storm the nest of a missel-thrush : the dams defended 

 their mansion with great vigour, and fought resolutely pro arts 

 et focis ; but numbers at last prevailed, they tore the nest to 

 pieces, and swallowed the young alive." 



The The Blackbird is another of the most cherished 



Blackbird. o f English song birds. It is one of the earliest 

 to wake the morning with a song. Its habits are similar to 

 those of the Thrush ; it builds its nest in bushes, in shrubberies 

 and gardens, safe from the sight, but close to the haunts of 

 man. It lines its nest with a plaster of mud which it covers 



