Fragments of Ornithology. 54,5 



in other individuals may vary a trifle with regard to time. 

 Thus we may say that once every year, for a very short period, 

 the drake goes, as it were, into an eclipse, so that, from the 

 early part of the month of July, to about the first week in 

 August, neither in the poultry-yards of civilised man, nor 

 through the vast expanse of Nature's wildest range, can there 

 be found a drake in that plumage which, at all other seasons 

 of the year, is so remarkably splendid and diversified. 



Though I dislike the cold and dreary months of winter as 

 much as any man can well dislike them, still I always feel 

 sorry when the returning sun prepares the way for the wild- 

 fowl to commence their annual migratory journey into the 

 unknown regions of the north. - Their flights through the 

 heavens, and their sportings on the pool, never fail to impart 

 both pleasure and instruction to me. When the time of their 

 departure comes, I bid my charming harmless company fare- 

 well, and from my heart I wish them a safe return. 



Walton Hall, August 21. 1835. 



Art. III. Sketches of the Natural History of my Neighbourhood. 

 No. 3. Fragments of Ornithology, By C. Conway, Esq., of 

 Pontnewydd Works, Monmouthshire. 



I have long contemplated the finishing of my remarks on 

 the birds of my neighbourhood, begun in VII. 333.; but, 

 some trifle or other has always diverted me from my purpose. 

 I will not promise to make an end of it now : I will " begin 

 to finish ; " and, if the observations I have now to offer are 

 acceptable to your Magazine, you may use them in whatever 

 way you please. 



The Wren. — The science of political economy, at least as far 

 as regards a division of labour (and that is a most important 

 part of the science), is not exclusively confined to the lords of 

 the creation. In watching a pair of wrens building their nests 

 in an old road, I noticed that one confined itself entirely to 

 the construction of the nest, which it never left for a moment ; 

 whilst the other was as incessantly passing and repassing with 

 materials for the structure. These materials, however, this 

 helper never once attempted to put into their places : they were 

 regularly and always delivered to the grand architect that was 

 employed in constructing the building. 



{The Robin.'] — During some inclement days, in the end 

 of December, 1830, a redbreast was observed resting upon 

 a twig which overhung a stream, and intently watching some 

 Vol. VIII. — No. 54. qq 



