The British Naturalist. 61 



At p. 32 1 . our author, rather too indiscriminately, we think, 

 denies " the swallow tribe " the merit of possessing song. 

 They have, he says, " merely a sound or noise, and some of 

 them a screech." Ought not the swallow (i/irundo rustica), 

 among our British species, to have been made an exception ? 

 We agree with Mr. Main (Vol. IV. p. 413.) in the propriety 

 of giving to this species a place among the song birds ; though 

 we admit, with him, that it may rank " rather low on the scale 

 as a vocalist." Of all the feathered musicians the swallow is 

 one of the earliest risers, commencing its song even before it 

 is well light, while night is yet 



" At odds with morning, which is which." 

 Not unfrequently have we been roused at or before daybreak, 

 and kept awake, by the continuous song of this harbinger of 

 summer, as it sat twittering on our chimney top,^or perched 

 on some projecting ledge adjacent to our bed-room window. 



We must trespass on our limits, for the sake of making 

 another extract, which, for its accuracy, and the important 

 bearing the subject has on natural history, ought not to be 

 omitted : — 



" When man alters the soil and the vegetation, the animals alter along 

 with it. In consequence of the improvement in agricultm'e and of planting, 

 many of the birds that are probably with accuracy described as having been 

 confined to the southern parts of England, are now met with in the north, 

 and also in the cultivated parts of Scotland. The plover comes in place 

 of the grouse; the partridge in place of the plover; and where coppices 

 become abundant, the pheasant, in turn, invades the dominion of the 

 partridge. The trees and plants, with more succulent leaves, that cul- 

 tivation introduces instead of the heath, the hard grass, the furze, the 

 broom, and all those native vegetables of the north that have austere 

 juices, necessarily bring along with them a vast number of insects. We say 

 * necessarily;' for wherever the proper food for any of the productions 

 of nature is to be found, thither will that production come to it, by means 

 that no one can find out : as, for instance, if roses or cherries are intro- 

 duced, there are sure to be aphides ; if any of the brassicas, there are sure 

 to be caterpillars ; and, if there be even an introduction of nettles, their 

 beautiful butterflies will visit them. When they have increased to a certain 

 amount, they are sure to bring not only those resident birds that feed them- 

 selves and their young upon larvae, but also the warblers and other summer 

 visitants." (p. 332, 3^3.) 



These remarks we can verify by similar instances, which 

 have come within our own experience. Having made some 

 oak plantations, though only on a small scale, near our resi- 

 dence, we have occasionally found therein Theclflj quercus 

 (purple hairstreak butterfly) and Melitae'a Euphrosyn^ (pearl- 

 bordered fritillary), insects which previously we had never 

 seen within some miles of the spot. We have seldom planted 

 the Athenian [?] poplar without finding it taken possession of 

 by Smerinthus populi (poplar hawk moth), and Ceriira vinula 



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