178 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CH. XXXI. 



prey being killed off: blackbirds, thrushes, and nu- 

 merous other beautiful little birds, increase in pro- 

 portion as their enemies are destroyed. In several 

 districts where a few years ago these birds were very 

 rare they are now abundant. 



The ring-ousel, too, is one of the birds who 

 has benefited by this destruction of its enemies 

 There are some other birds, such as the wheat-ear 

 and tit-lark, who are seldom killed by a hawk, but 

 whose nests and young are the constant prey of 

 weasels and other ground-vermin. These also have 

 good reason to thank the trapper. AVood-pigeons, 

 whose eggs were formerly taken by the crows and 

 magpies in great numbers, and whose young served 

 to feed many kinds of hawks, now increase daily, 

 and begin to be a subject of great complaint amongst 

 farmers ; and yet the wood-pigeon during a great 

 part of the year feeds on the seeds of many \> eeds 

 and plants which are useless to mankind. The 

 eggs of birds are in general more or less concealed 

 from their enemies, either by the nest being similar 

 in colour to the surrounding substances, or by its 

 situation ; but the eggs of the wood-pigeon are par- 

 ticularly exposed to the attacks of crows, magpies, 

 &c. Their young, too, are constantly stolen out of 

 the nest by hawks and owls. It is a singular cir- 

 cumstance connected with the " table arrangements^ 



