236 STARLINGS. 



for the diminution; but still reeds are left in sufficient 

 abundance for the accommodation of ten times the 

 number that are ever assembled in the neighbourhood 

 of which we speak. 



Under the head of Fringilla, or Finch, (which is our 

 translation of the Latin word,) are included, amongst 

 Sparrows, Goldfinches, and Canaries, tribes of small 

 birds, each exhibiting in its own domestic habits and 

 arrangements, as much sound philosophy and wisdom 

 in the management of their concerns, as the wisest of 

 human kind. 



Some of these little birds, moreover, seem occasionally 

 to have something like a reasoning, as well as an instinc- 

 tive faculty. A gentleman had a Goldfinch which was 

 chained to a perch, instead of being kept in a cage. Its 

 food was put into a box, resembling a water fountain 

 used for cages, and the little opening at which the bird 

 was fed had a cover loaded with lead to make it fall 

 down. The bird raised this by pushing down a lever or 

 handle with its bill, which raised the lid of the box, after 

 which, by putting its foot on the lever, it could feed at 

 leisure. He had also a Redpole, chained on a nearly 

 similar perch ; this bird fed from an open box without 

 the trouble of having recourse to the lifting power, like 

 his neighbour, the Goldfinch But though the Redpole 

 could have known nothing of the use of the handle from 

 his own experience, as his food was to be got at without 

 such trouble, yet it seems he must have taken notice of 

 it, and seen that by touching this handle he could get at 

 the Goldfinch's food, were he within reach; and this he 

 kept in mind for the day of need; for one morning when 

 loose, and his own seed-box empty, he flew at once to 

 the perch of his friend, raised the lid of the seed-box 

 with his bill, and then laying hold of it with one foot, 

 kept it open till he had made a good breakfast. This 

 apparently trifling circumstance clearly shows that birds 

 can and do take notice of some things, and collect infor- 

 mation which may be useful when needed. In this case 



