OP SELBOllNE. 321 



by their feathers left in lanes and under 

 hedges. 



The missel-thrush is, while breeding, 

 fierce and pugnacious, driving such birds 

 as approach its nest, with great fury, to a 

 distance. The Welch call it pen y llwyyiy 

 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 mag- 

 pies came determined to storm the nest of 

 a missel-thrush : the dams defended their 

 mansion with great vigour, and fought 

 resolutely pro aris &;• 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 comparatively tame. Thus the 

 ring-dove breeds in my fields, though they 

 are continually frequented ; and the missel- 

 thrush, though most shy and wild in the 

 Autumn and Winter, builds in my garden 



VOL. I. Y 



