146 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



the hawk. Nothing, in our native ornithology, can 

 be more beautiful than the plumage of the jay; 

 while its very wildness and discordance is in har- 

 mony with the loneliness of the tangled woods it 

 loves to frequent. The sudden and sharp cry of the 

 green woodpecker is of a similar character ; and the 

 sound of its bill " tapping the hollow beech tree" is 

 interesting and poetical. The squirrel, again, is the 

 gayest and the prettiest enlivener of our woodland 

 scenery ; and, in its amazing leaps, shows us an ex- 

 ample — unrivalled among our native quadrupeds — 

 of agility and gracefulness. Yet these peaceful 

 denizens of our woods are destroyed and exter- 

 minated, from sheer ignorance of the most unques- 

 tionable facts in their history. The jay, indeed, is 

 said to suck eggs ; but this is never done except in 

 a scarcity of insect food, which rarely, if ever, hap- 

 pens. The woodpecker lives entirely upon those 

 insects which destroy trees, and is, therefore, one of 

 the most efficient preservers of our plantations; 

 while the squirrel feeds exclusively on fruits and 

 nuts. To suppose that either of these are prejudicial 

 to the eggs or the young of partridges and pheasants, 

 would be just as reasonable as to believe that goat- 

 suckers milked cows, or that hedgehogs devoured 

 poultry. It is surely desirable that right notions 

 should be had on such things, and that by an ac- 

 quaintance with the most common facts of natural 

 history, our few regaining native animals should be 

 preserved from wanton and useless destruction. If 

 natural history can teach us nothing more than hu- 

 manity towards such inoffensive creatures, a little 

 attention to it would not be misplaced. 



