84 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



With us the swallow was seen first on April the 4th, the 

 swift on April the 24th, the bank-martin on April the I2th, 

 and the house-martin not till April the 3oth. At South 

 Zele, Devonshire, swallows did not arrive till April the 25th ; 

 swifts in plenty on May the ist and house-martins not till 

 the middle of May. At Blackburn, in Lancashire, swifts were 

 seen April the 28th, swallows April the 29th, house-martins 

 May the ist. Do these different dates, in such distant 

 districts, prove anything for or against migration ? 



A farmer, near Weyhill, fallows his land with two teams 

 of asses ; one of which works till noon, and the other in 

 the afternoon. When these animals have done their work, 

 they are penned all night, like sheep, on the fallow. In the 

 winter they are confined and foddered in a yard, and make 

 plenty of dung. 



Linnceus says that hawks "padscuntur inducias cum avibus, 

 quamdiu cuculus cuculat : " but it appears to me, that during 

 that period, many little birds are taken and destroyed by 

 birds of prey, as may be seen by their feathers left in lanes 

 and under hedges. 



The missel-thrush is, while breeding, fierce and pugna- 

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

 fury to a distance. The Welch 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 time, 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 determined 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. 



In the season of nidification the wildest birds are com- 

 paratively tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, 

 though they are continually frequented ; x and the missel- 



1 What would the author have thought if he could have seen the Wood- 

 Pigeons in the London parks at the present day. There they are tame enough, 

 but not so friendly as in the Champs lysees in Paris, where recently (June 1900) 



