98 NATURAL HISTORY 



and may retire before the excessive rigor cf 

 tl a frosts in those parts ; and return to 

 breed in the Spring, when the cold abates. 

 If this be the case, here is discovered a new 

 bird ( f Winter passage, concerning whose 

 migrations the writers are silent : but if 

 these birds should prove the ousels of the 

 north of England, then here is a migra- 

 tion disclosed within our own kingdoni 

 never before remarked. It does not yet ap-^ 

 pear whether they retire beyond the bounds 

 of our island to the south ; but it is mo^t 

 probable that they usually do, or else one^ 

 cannot suppose that they would have con- 

 til ued so long unnoticed in the southern 

 counties. The ousel is larger than a blacks 

 bird, and feeds on haws ; but last Autumu 

 (when there were no haws) it fed on yew- 

 berries : in the Spring it feeds on ivy-ber-!- 

 ries, which ripen only at that season, in 

 March and April, 



I must not omit to tell you (as you have 

 been sq lately on the study of reptiles) tha,t 

 my people, ev^ry now and then, of late, 

 draw up with a bucket of water from iny 



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