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fwallow was feen firft on April the 4th, the fwift on April t\\e
24th, the bank-martin on April the 12th, and the houfe-martin not
till April the 30th. At South Zele, Devonjhire, fwallows. did not
arrive till April the 25th; fvvifts, in plenty, on May the lflr; and
lioufe-martins not till the middle o f May. At Blackburn, in
Lancajbtre, fwifts were feen April the 28 th, fwallows April the 29 th,
houfe-martins May 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 afternoon.
When thefe animals liave 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 “ pacifcuntur inducias cum avibus, quamdiu
cuculus c u c u la tbut it appears to me that, during that period;
many little birds are taken and deftroyed by birds of prey, as mav
be feen by their feathers left in lanes and under hedges.
The mijfel-thrujh is, while breeding, fierce and pugnacious,
driving fuch birds as approach its neft, with great fury, to a.
diftance. The Welch call i t pen y llwyn, the head or mailer 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 fuccefsful in the
defence of his family : but once I obferved in my garden, that
feveral magpies came determined to ftorm the neft of a miffel-
thrufh : the dams defended their manfion with great vigour, and
fought refolutely pro arts & focis; but numbers at laft prevailed,
they tore the neft to pieces, and fwallowed the young alive.
. " A.: * .’ A-- AA-* v
r ■ ' / / V '.« j — v 1 aC.
In the feafon of nidification the wildeft birds are comparatively
tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, though they are
continually frequented; and the miflel-thrufh, though moft fhy
and wild in the autumn and winter, builds in my garden clofe
to a walk where people are palling all day long.
Wall-fruit abounds with me this year; but my grapes, that
ufed to be forward and good, are at prefent backward beyond all
precedent: and this is not the worft of the ftory ; for the fame
ungenial weather, the fame black cold folftice, has injured the
more necefiary fruits of the earth, and difcoloured and blighted
our wheat. The crop of hops promifes to be very large.
Frequent returns of deafnefs incommode me fadly, and half
difqualify me for a naturalift ; for, when thofe fits are upon me
I lofe all the pleafing notices and little intimations arifing from
rural founds; and May is to me as lilent and mute with refpedt
to the notes of birds, &c. as Auguft. My eyefight is, thank God,
quick and good; but with refpedt to the other fenfe, I am, at
times, difabled :
" And Wifdom at one entrance quite ihut out.”