NATURAL HISTORY 
Ivvallow was feen firft on Jpril the 4th, the fwift on Jpril the 
24th, the bank-martin on Jpril the 1 2th, and the houfe-martin not 
till Jpril the 30th. At South Zele, Devonjhire, fwallows. did not 
arrive till Jpril the 25th; fwifts, in plenty, on May the ift ; and 
houfe-martins not till the middle of May. At Blackburn, in 
LancaJJnre, fwifts were feen April the 28th, fwallows April the 29th, 
houfe-martins ]\4ay the ift. Do thefe different dates, in fuch 
diftant diftrifts, prove any thing for or againft migration ? 
A farmer, near Weyhill, fallows his land with two teams of 
affes; one of which works till noon, and the other in the after- 
noon. When thefe animals have done their work, they are 
penned all night, like fheep, on the fallow. In the winter they 
are confined and foddered in a yard, and make plenty of dung. 
Linnaus fays that hawks " padfcuntur inducias cum avibuiy quamdiu- 
cuculus cuculat but it appears to me that, during that period, 
many little birds are taken and deftroyed by birds of prey, as may 
be feen by their feathers left in lanes and under hedges. 
The mi[fel-thrujh is, while breeding, fierce and pugnacious, 
driving fuch birds as approach its neft, with great fury, to a 
diftance. The IVelch call it pen y llwyn, the head or mafter of the 
coppice. He fuffers no magpie, jay, or blackbird, to enter the 
garden where he haunts ; and is, for the time, a good guard to 
the new-fown legumens. In general he is very fuecefsful in the 
defence of his family : but once I obferved in my garden, that 
feveral magpies came determined to ftorm the neft of a miflel- 
thrufti : the dams defended their manfion with great vigour, and 
fought refolutely pro aris & focis ; but numbers at laft prevailed, 
they tore the neft to pieces, and fwallowed the young alive. 
