400 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[September 20. 
the bottom of a wall, just as, having observed me, it was 
about to fly off. 
The Missel Thrush, during winter and spring, is thus 
more vigilant and suspicious than even the Fieldfare, and, 
for this reason, as well as because it is much rarer, is seldom 
shot. It sometimes associates with that species in the fields ; 
but rarely flies with it. Its flight, which is rather heavy, is 
performed by a series of flappings, with short intervals of 
cessation, like that of the Fieldfare, and has very little un¬ 
dulation. On occasion, however, it becomes rapid; and, when 
at full speed, a Missel Thrush bears a considerable _ resem¬ 
blance to a Sparrow-Hawk or Merlin; and small birds are 
sometimes seen pursuing it, as they are wont to fly after a 
bird of prey. It is seldom that the individuals of a flock fly 
low or close together. 'While proceeding, they now and then 
utter a low scream, and when they find an eligible place, they | 
i either alight abruptly at a distance from each other, or fly : 
! over the field for some time. 
The song of this bird resembles that of the Blackbird, but 
its notes are less mellow and modulated, although equally J 
loud. It commences very early in spring, or even in winter, ; 
when the weather is fine, and is continued until the middle 
of summer; but, as the species is comparatively scarce in 
most parts, it is seldom heard, and when it is, is usually mis- 
taken for that of the Blackbird or Song Thrush. Several in¬ 
dividuals have heard it sing when flying from one place to 
another, but on such occasions I have only heard it utter its 
harsh scream. 
The flocks break up in March, and about the end of that 
month, or towards the middle of April, the different pairs 
commence their building operations, selecting a natural 
wood, a plantation, or frequently an orchard, for their sum¬ 
mer residence, whence they make excursions into the neigh¬ 
bouring fields and gardens. The nest, which is placed in 
the fork of a tree, or on a branch, generally at an incon¬ 
siderable height, is very bulky, and more rudely constructed 
than that of the other species which build with us. It is 
composed externally of twigs, straws, and grasses of various 
kinds, intermixed with leaves and mosses; within this is a 
rudely formed cup of mud, generally in pellets, mixed with 
grass or fibrous roots. The interior is a more carefully 
arranged layer of finer grasses, roots, and moss, or frequently 
of grass alone. Sometimes the exterior is partially covered 
with grey lichens and mosses ; but at other times it is similar 
to that of the Blackbird’s nest. The internal diameter of one 
now before me is four and a half inches, its depth two and 
three-fourths, and the thickness of its walls nn inch and 
three-quarters. The eggs, usually four, or from three to five, 
are of a regular oblong-oval form, an inch and three-twelfths 
in length, by ten-twelfths, flesh-coloured, or purplish-white, 
marked with irregular scattered spots of light brownish-red 
and more obscure spots of purplish red.— Macgillivray's 
History of British Birds.'} 
POULTRY-HOUSE. 
I now enclose you a plan of my little hen-house. I must, 
however, tell you that my original hen-house was up stairs, 
close to the slates, and with a skylight facing the north. It 
was bitter cold, so much so, that last winter my Spanish hens 
did not lay at all. 
a Sunk water tank in boiling-house, Sc c. 
b Pump—to supply regulating cistern. 
c Regulating cistern. 
d Boiler and stove. 
e Steam-pipe for warming lien-liouse, and steaming tubs. 
f Hen boxes. 
K Platform to hen boxes. 
h Roosting poles. 
i Steaming tubs sunk in ground; i other steaming box. 
k Entrance for poultry. 
My present house was a loose box facing south. I chose 
it not for its capabilities, but because joining the boiler- 
house. In many ways I would alter the arrangement were I 
to fit it again, especially in having the laying-boxes under the 
roosting perches. As at present I believe it will answer, and 
at only the expense of the iron pipes, as when I am steam¬ 
ing food for my pigs I have nothing to do but turn the tap, 
and let it run off through the hen-house. 
A Naval Ofitoer. 
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Potato Murrain. —On taking up some Ash-leaved 
Kidneys, that had been left in the ground, to see whether 
they would remain freer from disease than the rest of the 
crop which was taken up some weeks before, I found that 
the tubers under some of the plants which had been much 
trodden on in the course of the summer were good, without 
exception, whilst of the remainder nine-tenths or more were 
spoiled. Being on a border before a south wall, a sort of 
path was made over the plants nearest the wall, across the 
ends of the drills, by people going to the fruit-trees, Ac.: 
and the haulm of those plants was injured, and its growth 
dwarfed; and their tubers though sound and good were 
smaller than those under the rest of the plants. Hoes, 
then, closeness of soil protect from disease? I should have 
thought so, had I not constantly seen this summer that the 
tuber deepest in the earth rots sooner than those at the 
surface, where, when partly greened by the air, they are hardy 
and well. Again, I should have said, that checking the lux¬ 
uriance of the foliage might have had a good effect, but that 
I have seen some of the most luxuriant plants with a plen¬ 
tiful crop underneath, unhurt to the last—so that I can draw 
no conclusion. May it not be useful to learn, if it has been 
generally remarked, that plants trodden, as by a path, Ac., 
have uniformly escaped disease?—Hv. Helyar, Jun., Hard- 
ington, near Yeovil. 
[These facts coincide with the opinion we have always 
entertained, that dryness is one of the best preventives of the 
disease.—E d. G. G.] 
Destroying Ants.—A gentleman in this neighbourhood 
(Kingston-on-Thames), whose field was overrun with ants, 
after having tiled every imaginable thing to destroy them, at 
last pursued the following method, and at this time there is 
I 
