[ 1^ ] 



II. Obsoimtions on the Notes of Birds, includifig an Inguity 

 "whether or not they are instinctive. By Mr. John Black- 

 wall.* 



T T is much to be regretted that the study of ornithology is 

 -*■ too frequently confined solely to the perusal of the best 

 authors on the subject, and to the examination and arrange- 

 ment of preserved specimens, whose faded plumage and dis- 

 torted forms convey very imperfect ideas of the elegance and 

 symmetry that so eminently distinguish this beautiful and 

 highly interesting part of the creation. To those whom busi- 

 ness or inclination leads to reside chiefly in large towns, such 

 ' are almost the only means of information that offer themselves ; 

 but who that enjoys the opportunity of observing the free 

 denizens of the fields and woods in their native haunts, would 

 exchange their lively and unrestrained activity, their curious 

 domestic economy, their mysterious migrations, and their wild 

 but delightful melody, foi- the fixed glassy eye and the mute 

 tongue of the inanimate forms that ai'e crowded together in 

 melancholy groups in the museum ? Let me not, however, be 

 misunderstood: I do not mean to insinuate, that those collec- 

 tions of birds that enrich the cabinets of the curious are of 

 small utility ; on the contrary, I am willing to allow that their 

 importance is very considerable : but I would anxiously guard 

 against an exclusive attention to the collecting and arranging 

 of specimens, to the neglect of what is much more instructive 

 and valuable; I mean the study of their habits, manners, eco- 

 nomy, instincts, and notes. In these important particulars the 

 liistory of birds is still very defective : the majority of authors, 

 foreign as well as native, having limited themselves to the 

 simple enumeration of specific characteristics and distinctions, 

 and the occasional introduction of a few anecdotes, which from 

 frequent repetition have, in general, lost much of the novelty 

 they once possessed. We must except from this remark, 

 however, the excellent works, in natural history, of our in- 

 genious countryman the late Rev. Gilbert White, of Selborne 

 in Hampshire, which abound with new and interesting facts. 

 This diligent observer, whose example in investigating nature 

 cannot be too highly recommended, instead of confining him- 

 self to the mere classification of natural objects, ranged the 

 extensive wood, the tangled brake, the solitary sheep-walk, 

 and the treacherous morass, to contemplate the manner of 

 life, dispositions, and peculiar characters, of their fathered in- 



• From the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Man- 

 chester, vol. iv. 



habitants, 



