THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
and arc thereby very serviceable in gardens. Missel-thrushes 
do not destroy the fruit in gardens like the other species of 
hirdi, but feed on the berries of mistletoe, and in the spring on 
ivy-berries, which then begin to ripen.^ In the summer, when 
their young become fledged, they leave neighbourhoods, and 
retire to sheep-walks and wild commons. This species of 
thrush, though wild at other times, delights to build near 
houses, and in frequented walks and gardens.] 
In the season of nidification the w^ildest birds are compara- 
tively tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, though 
they are continually frequented ; and the missel-thrush, though 
iHRI STi's K<ii;. 
most shy and wild in the autumn and winter, builds in my 
garden close to a walk where people are passing all day long. 
Wall-fruit abounds with me this year ; but my grapes, that 
used to be forw^ard and good, are at present backward beyond 
all precedent: and this is not the worst of the story; for 
the same ungenial weather, the same black cold solstice, has 
injured the more necessary fruits of the earth, and discoloured 
and blighted our wheat. The crop of hops promises to be very 
large. 
^ In the very early part of this spring (1797) a bird of this species used 
to sit every morning on the top of some very high elms close by my windows, 
and delight me with its charming song, attracted thither, probably, by some 
ripe ivy-berries that grew near the place. 
I have remarked something like the latter fact, for I remember many 
years ago, seeing a pair of these birds fly up repeatedly and attack some 
larger bird, which I suppose disturbed their nest in my orchard, uttering at 
the same time violent shrieks. Since writing the above, I have seen more 
than once a pair of these birds attack some magpies that had disturbed their 
nest, with great violence and loud shrieks. — Markwick. 
