198 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



along the hedges as they walk : these last sounds seem 

 intended for menace and defiance. 



The grasshopper-lark chirps all night in the height 

 of summer. 



Swans turn white the second year, and breed the 

 third. 



Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their being 

 sometimes caught in mole-traps. 



Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' 

 nests ; and the kestrel in churches and ruins. 



There are supposed to be two sorts of eels in the 

 island of Ely. The threads sometimes discovered in 

 eels are perhaps their young : the generation of eels 

 is very dark and mysterious. 



Hen-harriers breed on the ground, and seem never 

 to settle on trees. 



When redstarts shake their tails, they move them 

 horizontally, as dogs do when they fawn : the tail of 

 the wagtail, when in motion, bobs up and down, like 

 that of a jaded horse. 



Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable flirt with their 

 wings in breeding time : as soon as frosty mornings 

 come, they make a very piping, plaintive noise. 



Many birds which become silent about midsummer, 

 re-assume their notes again in September; as the 

 thrush, blackbird, woodlark, willow-wren, &c, ; hence 

 August is by much the most mute month, the spring, 

 summer, and autumn through. Are birds induced to 

 sing again because the temperament of autumn re- 

 sembles that of spring ? 



Linnaeus ranges plants geographically; palms in- 

 habit the tropics ; grasses the temperate zones ; and 

 mosses and lichens the polar circles : no doubt animals 

 may be classed in the same manner with propriety. 



House- sparrows build under eaves in the spring; 

 as the weather becomes hotter, they get out for cool- 

 ness, and nest in plum-trees and apple-trees. These 



