Zoology. 277 



then perched upon his shoulder. He fired at the hawk with 

 the first barrel (while the fieldfare sat still), but missed ; the 

 hawk, intent upon his prey, disregarded the shot; with the 

 second barrel he brought the bird down. The fieldfare left 

 his shoulder, and fluttered for a short time around its fallen 

 and dead enemy, uttering a chirp of joy, and then winged 

 away from its friend and unexpected protector." 



Were the illustrious author of Zoonomia [Dr. Darwin] 

 alive, what inference would he deduce from a fact such as 

 this ? Must we not allow something more than instinct to 

 account for such a circumstance? — J. J. Feb. 19. 1832. 



Cimel Love, — Being in the country, near Woking, Surrey, 

 last week, 1 was witness to the curious fact of a female sparrow 

 killing her husband, not from either hatred or jealousy, but 

 from love. The pair were in search of a place for building 

 their nest ; and the male bird finding a tempting hole among 

 the tiles of the roof, got into it: unfortunately, he became 

 entangled in the broken mortar, and could not force his way 

 back. The female saw his situation, and after flying back- 

 wards and forwards several times, twittering, and apparently 

 in great distress, she attempted to pull him out. Several 

 birds were attracted by the accident, and came fluttering 

 round, but were beaten off" by the female sparrow. She then 

 redoubled her own efforts to extricate the male, and, getting 

 hold of his beak above the nostrils in her own beak, she 

 pulled it so hard that she killed him. She did not, however, 

 appear aware of the mischief she had done, but continued 

 pulling at the dead body of her unfortunate mate, with as much 

 perseverance as she had done while he continued alive. My 

 man, who saw the whole transaction, at last drove her away, 

 and with some difficulty extricated the dead bird. Its head 

 was dreadfully mangled ; and the beak of its mate had evi- 

 dently penetrated the brain. About an hour afterwards I 

 again passed the place, and saw a bird, which I supposed the 

 female, sitting on the very spot where the accident had hap 

 pened, crouched together, with her feathers all standing up, 

 so as to give her the appearance of a ball, and certainly look- 

 ing the very image of a disconsolate widow. — J, W, L. 

 April 11. 1831. 



The Cuclcoo [Qilcidus canbrus) prefers to lay in the WagtaiVs 

 Nest. — A Pair of Pied Wagtails (Motacilla alba) fixed their 

 nest early in April among the ivy which covers one side of my 

 house, and reared and took off" their young. A few days after 

 the young birds had left the nest, I observed the old birds 

 apparently collecting materials for building, and was much 

 amused at seeing the young running after the parent birds, 



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