FREGILUS GRACULUS. 



489 



" King Lear," when poor, eyeless Glo'ster, weary of life, and 

 wanting death by leaping from the highest cliffs of Dover, asks 

 his unknown son, Edgar, if he is near the place. Edgar 

 replies — 



" Come on, sir ; here's the place— stand still. How fearful 

 And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! 

 The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles. Half-way down 

 Hangs one that gathers samphire — dre-idful trade ! 

 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head ; 

 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 

 Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark 

 Diminish'd to her cock ; her cock a buoy, 

 Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge, 

 That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes. 

 Cannot be heard so high ; I'll look no more ; 

 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 

 Topple down headlong.'' 



It makes its nest on the steepest cliffs, generally in clefts far 

 in, so that you cannot reach or see it. It is, like the jackdaw's, 

 of sticks, roots, and dry grass, lined with fine roots, grass, and a 

 large quantity of wool and hair. The eggs, five, unlike those of 

 the crows, are of a dull creamy white, speckled with brown, and 

 purplish spots and blotches — more like the magpie's, but larger ; 

 1 J by 1-| — size of the rook's; it also feeds on worms, insects, seeds, 

 fruit, carrion, fish, or what it can get. It prefers to alight on 

 rocks, stones, or gravel, rather than on pasture or trees, although 

 it sometimes builds on trees. Its long, arched, slender 

 bill is so fine at the point as to pick out the smallest insect. It 

 is strong at the base, much arched ; the upper mandible, like an 

 awl, extends over the lower — the tomia, or cutting edges of both, 

 entire, forming a perfect instrument for the use intended by 

 Nature. It is vermilion ; legs and feet, coral red ; claws, black, 

 strong, and hooked. The whole plumage is black, as the pedlar 

 rogue, Autolycus, sings in " The Winter's Tale" — 



" Cyprus, black as e'er was crow l" 



Like the rook's, glossed with blue, green, and purple ; iris, 

 brown. It is gregarious, nesting in company; is 17 inches 

 long by 34. Some foreign species in their formation of bill are 

 affined to the birds of paradise. 



The next genus, Nucifraga, in our limited British birds, is 

 also confined to one species — the nutcracker. 



"2 G 



