, The old Welsh name of " master, or head of the coppice," 

 refers to the same warlike spirit. " The missel-thrush," says 

 Gilbert White, "suffers no magpie, jay, or blackbird to enter 

 the garden ,where he haunts, and is, for the time, a good 

 guardian of the new-sown crops. In general, he is very suc- 

 cessful in defence of his family. Once, however, I observed in 

 my garden that several magpies came determined to storm the 

 nest of the missel-thrush. The parent- birds defended their 

 mansion with great vigour, and fought resolutely. But num- 

 bers at last prevailed, and the poor missel-thrushes had the 

 pain of seeing their nest torn to pieces, and their young carried 

 off." 



The missel-thrushes, however, as the year goes on, make for 

 themselves enemies even more formidable than hawks or mag- 

 pies ; these are the gardeners. Towards the end of summer, 

 when the young have flown, and they and the parent-birds 

 congregate in large flocks, having then nothing to do but to 

 enjoy themselves, like human families when children are all 

 home for the holidays, they too go abroad on their excursions 

 of pleasure ; not, however, to sea-side watering places, but 

 into gardens where the cherries and raspberries are ripe. 

 Poor birds ! Little aware of their danger, or if they be so, 

 defiant of it in the greatness of the temptation, they make sad 

 havoc amongst the fruit, and many unfortunates are shot or 

 snared, and then hung up amidst the cherry-boughs or the 

 raspberry-canes as a terror to their associates. It is a pity we 

 cannot make them welcome to some and yet have enough left 

 for ourselves. 



The berries of the mountain-ash and the arbutus, and later 



