3576 Birds. 



mallard with his gorgeous plume, and many varieties of quiet-looking 

 cranes swam, and dived, and shook, and splashed, all screaming, each 

 in his own tongue, their natural joy in a life to them at that moment 

 full of charms."— P. 57. 



Notwithstanding its eccentricities, its Indianisms, and its occasion- 

 al entanglements, we heartily commend this little book to the notice 

 of our readers, not doubting that they will, with a little industry, ex- 

 tract therefrom abundance of amusement and a good share of instruc- 

 tion also. K. 



Instance of a Blackbird turning white from fright. — Every one at all cognizant of 

 the manners and customs of the English in olden time, knows that it was an ancient 

 custom in this kingdom, at the time when the humane sports of bull-baiting, cock- 

 fighting, and the like, were in vogue with our merry forefathers, for the enlightened 

 populace of England to collect together in every village on Shrove Tuesday, for the 

 purpose of throwing stones and other missiles at some unfortunate cock, doomed to 

 destruction on that day, and that he who first knocked over the miserable bird claimed 

 him as his lawful prize: this was the sport known as "cocking.'' But perhaps it may 

 not be so generally known that the remains of this ancient and barbarous custom still 

 exist in some of the villages of Somersetshire, though in quite a different form, under 

 the name of " crocking." It is the habit at this day, in some parts of that county, if 

 there be any especially disagreeable person in the village, for his or her neighbours to 

 throw down, with most discordant and crashing noise, at the door of their victim, all 

 the broken pots and pans and such-like crockery that they have collected during the 

 preceding twelvemonth ; this takes place on the night of Shrove Tuesday, and as the 

 actors in the sport are usually pretty numerous, and their object is to make as much 

 clatter and din as possible, we may imagine the disturbance and noise created at such 

 a time to be of the most deafening description. In a certain parish of Somersetshire, 

 of which a relative of mine was the curate, an old lady, for some cause or other which 

 it matters not to relate, became very obnoxious to her neighbours, and they, following 

 the ancient custom of the place, saluted her on a certain Shrove Tuesday evening with 

 all the broken crockery they could collect; indeed they carried out the pastime of " crock- 

 ing" to the full. Now it chanced that hard by this persecuted individual was a public- 

 house, the owner whereof had a tame blackbird, whose sleek black coat and rich notes 

 had charmed many a lazy loiterer, and the bird was well known to all the inhabitants of 

 the parish : but though the blackbird had doubtless listened to many a deep argument 

 in the tap-room, and had his own peculiar opinions about protection, I fear he had 

 never been initialed into the mysteries of " crocking," and so his mind had never been 

 prepared for the horrors he had to undergo. But time went on, the end of the Car- 

 nival set in, and the blackbird without doubt, as an orthodox bird, ate pancakes to the 

 full, and went off to roost, when suddenly he awoke with a start, his ears were assailed 

 with the most discordant and crashing sounds, such a diabolical noise as he had never 

 before heard so flurried and confounded him, that for two whole days he seemed to be 

 panic-stricken, hopping about his cage incessantly, refusing his food, and apparently 

 overcome with fright, and unable to shake off the terror with which the noise of the 



