DECEMBER. 195 



JACKDAWS AND ROOKS. 



One could not help wondering, in October and 

 early November, where all the rooks and jackdaws, 

 which passed in an endless procession westwards 

 from the east coast so long as daylight lasted day 

 after day, would find a home for the winter ; and 

 in all the south-eastern counties, at any rate, farmers 

 now agree that they have no recollection of so many 

 of these birds upon the land in any previous winter. 

 The plurality of jackdaws was especially noticed ; 

 because, although much smaller than the rooks, they 

 dominate the mixed gatherings with their incessant 

 clamour. 



THE MULTIPLYING MISSEL-THRUSH. 



Blackbirds and missel-thrushes seemed almost as 

 inordinately numerous as rooks and jackdaws in the 

 winter. Indeed, there is some reason to think that 

 like the hawfinch, the house-sparrow, the starling, 

 and, it is to be hoped, the goldfinch the missel- 

 thrush is becoming more common in England from 

 year to year. The increase may, of course, be merely 

 the temporary result of a succession of favourable 

 breeding seasons and mild winters, but it is more 

 probably due to the extension of game preserving. 

 The missel-thrush differs from the song-thrush in its 

 bold and open flight, and so falls much more fre- 

 quently a victim to the passing hawk. Also it builds 

 a conspicuous nest in leafless trees in early spring, 

 and so is more often than any other bird robbed of 

 its eggs by crows, magpies, and jays. But hawks, 



