186 TJie Journal of a Naturalist. 



ported by it, and, consequently, to require less work and slighter 

 materials. The flycatcher, and, indeed, a variety of other 

 birds, will build in the same spot for many years in succes- 

 sion, as he himself admits in another part of the volume ; and 

 particularly instances the flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) as 

 frequenting the same hole in the wall for several years. If 

 my memory does not deceive me. White makes a similar 

 remark, though, I think, of a different species. 



It is remarkable that a person so much accustomed to ob- 

 serve the proceedings of birds, insects, and other diminutive 

 creatures, and who must, consequently, be aware of the many 

 dangers by which almost every species is surrounded, should 

 express himself in this manner, in speaking of the blackcap ; — 

 '* This exceeding dislike of man is very extraordinary ; larger 

 or more important birds might have an instinctive fear of 

 violence, but this creature is too small and insignificant to 

 Ivave ever experienced or to apprehend injuries from him." 

 Too small ! — how many small birds are annually destroyed 

 or imprisoned by hundreds, either on account of their beauty, 

 their flavour, or their music ; and what should exempt this 

 little creature from the same fate, or fear of the same fate ? — 

 having, too, so sweet a note, as to be compared with the night- 

 ingale itself. This fear he attributes to the divine ordination, 

 which has declared " that the fear of man shall be upon every 

 beast of the field, upon every fowl of the air, and upon every 

 living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth." There 

 are few, I believe, who will not readily admit that it is not " his 

 sublime countenance, contemplative of the heavens," that 

 produces this awe of man ; nor does the question, by what it 

 i^ produced, appear very difficult to solve, even without the 

 ^id of revelation. Is there a creature, however minute, that 

 is not an object of destruction or persecution to man, through- 

 out its existence ? Many are killed in self-defence, many for 

 food, many for sport, and but too many in mere wantonness. 

 Such creatures as have nq weapons of defence are mostly 

 t^id, and they have cause to be so. Suppose this little bird 

 to have wanted this its only defence, to have had no security 

 but in its smallness and its insignificance, and how many of 

 its race would have been likely to escape destruction, capti- 

 vity, or the loss of their young ? Birds have been found in 

 desert islands that have met " the sublime countenance " of 

 man without alarm ; and have displayed no signs of fear or 

 shyness, until taught by experience to fly the dangers that 

 invariably accompanied him. 



The artifice of counterfeiting death, when captured, ob- 

 served by the writer to be practised by the dorr beetle 



