Sect. XVI. 13. 2. OF INSTINCT. 129 



their nefts a circumftance unthought of y the finches, that build 

 in green hedges, cover their habitations with green mofs j the 

 fwallow. or martin, that builds againft rocks and houfes, covers 

 hers with clay, whilft the lark choofes vegetable draw nearly of 

 the colour of the ground fhe inhabits : by this contrivance, they 

 are all lefs liable to be difcovered by their adverfaries. 



2. Nor are the nefts of the fame fpecies of birds con fir u (Sled 

 always of the fame materials, nor in the fame form •, which is 

 another circumftance that afcertains, that they are led by obfer- 

 vation. 



In the trees before Mr. Levet's houfe in Litchfield, there are 

 annually nefts built by fparrows, a bird which ufually builds un- 

 der the tiles of houfes, or the thatch of barns. Not finding fuch 

 convenient fituations for their nefts, they build a covered nefl 

 bigger than a man's head, with an opening like a mouth at the 

 fide, refembling that of a magpie, except that it is built w : tljt 

 ftraw and hay, and lined with feathers, and fo nicely managed 

 as to be a defence againft both wind and rain. 



The following extract from a Letter of the Rev. Mr. J. Dar- 

 win, of Carleton Scroop in Lincolnfhire, authenticates a curious 

 fact of this kind. " When I mentioned to you the circum- 

 ftance of crows or rooks building in the fpire of Welboum 

 church, you exprefted a defire of being well informed of the 

 certainty of the fact. Welbourn is fituated in the road from 

 Grantham to Lincoln on the Cliff row j I yefterday took a ride 

 thither, and inquired of the rector, Mr. Ridgehill, whether the 

 report was true, that rooks built in the fpire of his church. He 

 allured me it was true, and that they had done fo time imme- 

 morial, as his pariihioners affirmed. There was a common tra- 

 dition, he faid, that formerly a rookery in fome high trees ad- 

 joined the church yard, which being cut down (probably in the 

 fpring, the building feafon), the rooks removed to the church, 

 and built their nefts on the outfide of the fpire on the tops of 

 windows, which by their projection a little from the fpire made 

 them convenient room, but that they built alfo on the infide. I 

 faw two nefts made with fticks on the outfide, and in the fpires, 

 and Mr. Ridgehill faid there were always a great many. 



" I fpent the day with Mr. Wright, a clergyman, at Fulbeck, 

 near Welbourn, and in the afternoon Dr. Ellis of Leadenham, 

 about two miles from Welbourn, drank tea at Mr. Wright's, who 

 faid he remembered, when Mr. Welby lived at Welbourn, that 

 he received a letter from an acquaintance in the weft of Eng- 

 land, defiring an anfwer, whether the report of rooks building 

 in Welbourn church was true, as a wager was depending oj 

 Vol. I. S * that 



