THE FEATHERED TRIBES OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 85 



and farinaceous food. Some interesting particulars relative to the gold- 

 finch may be acceptable to our readers. 



" One chosen habitat of the goldfinch is the line where the cultivated fields meet 

 the upland waste or the game preserve. (The weeds disseminated from the latter, 

 by the way, do even more injury to the surrounding farms than the game birds.) 

 That boundary is one at which there is a good deal of knowledge to be acquired ; 

 and the more so, the greater the contrast between the territories which it divides. 

 Some portion of the tilth is blown by the winds of March upon the margin of the 

 ■wild, and along with a surface grass a little more kindly, there comes a host of 

 thistles and other plants with winged seeds, which stand in battle array upon the 

 frontier, ready to invade the fields with legions of seeds, whenever the wind blows 

 from the hill. Among the tops of these, the mature goldfinches may be seen 

 labouring with the greatest assiduity the Whole day and the whole season ; and by 

 the time the summer has advanced a little, the young may be found on the ground 

 below, as busy among the groundsels, chickweeds, and plants, of a smaller growth, 

 which, although not so formidable in appearance, are, from their numbers, and the 

 rapidity of their growth and succession, fully as destructive. But though the 

 goldfinches are very industrious, and, though they multiply at the rate of three 

 broods in the year, the natural tendency of the plants on which they feed is to 

 multiply many hundreds of times faster; and man cannot perform a more orna- 

 mental, or a more useful labour in such places, than by walling his field round with 

 a belt of planting, which will be a shelter and protection both to his crop and to the 

 goldfinch." (Vol. ii. p. 54.) 



A further testimony to the good offices of birds, is borne in the fol- 

 lowing passage :— 



" Where the ploughed land margins on the bushless waste, and there is no bird 

 save the twite, with its dull plumage and dismal note, the two literally run into 

 each other, the grass-land starves the cattle, and the corn is not worth reaping ; 

 but where, even on soil naturally of the same quality, there are bushes and belts, 

 and linnets and goldfinches carolling away in full activity, the grasses are kindly 

 and green, and the corn plays in the summer wind with those beautiful wavings 

 which proclaims there shall be plenty." (Ibid, p. 55.) 



We would willingly graft more on our pages, but the limits which we 

 are obliged to respect imperatively restrict us. We wish to offer a 

 remark upon the acerbity displayed by Mr. Mudie at the mode of liberal 

 extract now generally adopted. We cannot altogether concur in his 

 estimate of what he terms " an inglorious martyrdom .-" the diffusion of 

 valuable knowledge is the most generous aim of science, and he who 

 has this, cordially, in view, will not, deliberately, protest against *' the 

 pennyworths acquired by the multitude, even though these "penny- 



likewise shot by Lord Valentia's* keeper near Areley, which, though severely 

 wounded, made great resistance after it fell to the ground " (vide Montague's 

 Ornithology) ; and in the autumn of 1824 I was witness to the progress of one of these 

 splendid birds, between the rocks near Downton Castle. These rocks afford, 

 perhaps, one of the most picturesque scenes which can well be imagined ; on either 

 side, they are interspersed, and crested by the beautiful timber for which Shropshire 

 is so celebrated, and the Teme " prawUng amidst the pebbles," or rushing through 

 its stony bed, forms mimic cataracts which impede its course, thus directing the 

 aid which taste has lent to nature in the hands of the highly-gifted proprietors. 

 The osprey, Falco halicstus, called by the Italians Aquila Piumbina, or leaden 

 eagle, from its heavy flight, as resembling a piece of lead falling into a river, made 

 its appearance slowly booming between the rocks, adding splendour to a scene 

 which seemed, in the first view, scarcely to admit of improvement. This magnificent 

 bird did not appear alarmed at the large party who were watching his course, but 

 went gradually forward, following the line and wanderings of this most capricious 

 river, in search of the grayling, eels, and small fish, with which it abounds. He 

 vanished amidst the rocks, and was seen no more. 



* Now the Earl of Mountnorris. 

 NO. II. N 



