164 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
contemplating the address with which this feat was performed 
to a considerable depth in the chimney, was somewhat inter- 
rupted by apprehensions lest my eyes might undergo the same ~ 
fate with those of Tobit.’ 
Perhaps it may be some amusement to you to hear at what 
times the different species of Azrundines arrived this spring in 
three very distant counties of this kingdom. With us the 
swallow was seen first on April 4th, the swift on April 24th, 
the bank-martin on April 12th, and the house-martin not till 
April 30th. At South Zele, Devonshire, swallows did not 
arrive till April 25th, swifts in plenty on May rst, and house- 
martins not till the middle of May. At Blackburn, in Lanca- 
shire, swifts were seen April 28th, swallows April 29th, 
house-martins May 1st. Do these different dates, in such 
distant districts, prove anything for or against migration? 
A farmer, near Weyhill, fallows his land with two teams of 
asses; one of which works till noon and the other in the after- 
noon. When these animals have done their work, they are 
penned all night, like sheep, on the fallow. In the winter 
they are confined and foddered in a yard. 
Linnzus says that hawks are disposed to keep the peace 
with other birds so long as the cuckoo’s note is heard ; but it 
appears to me, that during that period, many little birds are 
taken and destroyed by birds of prey, as may be seen by their 
feathers left in lanes and under hedges. 
The missel-thrush is, while breeding, fierce and pugnacious, 
driving such birds as approach its nest with great fury to 
a distance. ‘The Welsh call it pex y Zdwyn, the head or master 
of the coppice. He suffers no magpie, jay, or blackbird, to 
enter the garden where he haunts; and is, for the time, a good 
guard to the new-sown legumens. In general, he is very suc- 
cessful in the defence of his family; but once I observed in 
my garden that several magpies came determined to storm the 
1 Tobit ii. 10. 
