OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS 339 



What Mr. White remarks respecting the small shell snails 

 found in its gizzard confirms my opinion that it frequents corn- 

 fields, seed clover, and brakes or fern, more for the sake of 

 snails, slugs, and other insects which abound in such places, 

 than for the grain or seeds ; and that it is entirely an insectivo- 

 rous bird. MARKWICK. 



FOOD OF THE RING-DOVE. One of my neighbors shot a 

 ring-dove on an evening as it was returning from feed and 

 going to roost. When his wife had picked and drawn it, she 

 found its craw stuffed with the most nice and tender tops of 

 turnips. These she washed and boiled, and so sat down to a 

 choice and delicate plate of greens, culled and provided in this 

 extraordinary manner. 



Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when grain fails, 

 can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. There is reason to 

 suppose that they would not long be healthy without ; for tur- 

 keys, though corn fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as 

 cabbage, lettuce, endive, etc., and poultry pick much grass; 

 while geese live for months together on commons by grazing 



alone. 



" Naught is useless made ; . . . 

 . . . On the barren heath 

 The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop 

 Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf 

 Sufficient : after them the cackling goose, 

 Close-grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want." 



PHILIPS'S Cyder. 

 WHITE. 



That many graminivorous birds feed also on the herbage or 

 leaves of plants, there can be no doubt : partridges and larks 

 frequently feed on the green leaves of turnips, which give a 

 peculiar flavor to their flesh, that is, to me, very palatable : the 

 flavor also of wild-ducks and geese greatly depends on the 

 nature of their food ; and their flesh frequently contracts a 

 rank unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong, 

 marshy, aquatic plants, as I suppose. 



That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive 

 to the health of birds seems probable, for many people fat 

 their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped 

 small. MARKWICK. 



