186 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



spring in three very distant counties of this kingdom. 

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

 swift on April the 24th, the bank-martin on April the 12th, 

 and the house-martin not till April the 30th. At South 

 Zele, Devonshire, swallows did not arrive till April the 

 25th ; swifts, in plenty, on May the 1st ; 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 1st. 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. 



Linnseus says that hawks " paciscuniur indiicias 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 

 pugnacious, 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 aris & focis ; 

 but numbers at last prevailed, they tore the nest to pieces, 

 and swallowed the young alive. 



