28 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



ancestral Scandinavian home, he and his mate have 

 selected the wind-rocked cross-tree upon which to lash 

 their new wicker cradle. There, with well-grounded 

 confidence in their vessel, the hardy pair defy the gale, 

 and take command, screeching harsh watchwords, like 

 Danes from the wet deck of a lumbering sluppe, at the 

 driving fleet of rooks, who, heeding the warning, cease 

 their clamour, and beat cautiously to windward, to gain 

 a safe offing, and scud rapidly away. When all is snug 

 and ship-shape, and the vessel rocks smoothly in a 

 steady breeze, the jovial master-mariner takes his call- 

 pipe, and, mounting the topmost mast, lets slip down 

 the whispering gale a stave or two of wild music." 



The song usually begins in February, and ceases 

 early in spring ; for the Missel Thrush alone of British 

 songsters is silent during the period of incubation. 



It is well known that the Missel Thrush is of a 

 peculiarly bold and intrepid disposition. I had a 

 striking proof of this when, some years ago, walking 

 along the banks of the River Dodder with my friend, 

 J. Hunter Stokes, a hen Chaffinch, closely pursued by a 

 Sparrow-hawk, almost brushed against us. We watched 

 the birds as they glanced hither and thither, believing 

 that the Chaffinch's last hour was come, when in a 

 moment a Missel Thrush pounced down upon the hawk, 

 and so scared and baffled him that he flew off discomfited, 

 whilst his gallant adversary, mounting a high tree on 

 the other side of the river, poured forth a loud song of 

 triumph. 



I was forcibly reminded of this incident when read- 

 ing in Mr. Dresser's great work a translation of an 

 article written by M. Vian, a French ornithologist. He 



