246 PASSARINE BIRDS. 



breaks down the hard seeds he is destined to feed 

 upon. The bullfinch selects buds from trees and 

 bushes. The goldfinch is nurtured by thistle seeds, 

 or those of other syngenesious plants. Sparrows 

 feed promiscuously. Linnets shell out seeds from 

 the cherlock, or the rape, or the furze on the com- 

 mon. One lark will feed in the corn-field, another 

 in the mead, another in the woodlands one tit- 

 mouse upon insects frequenting the alder and willow ; 

 some upon those which are hidden under mosses, 

 and lichens on large trees ; a third upon coleopterous 

 creatures, secreted in the hedge-row and the coppice. 

 The grey wagtail finds food with us all the year ; but 

 the yellow one must seek it in other regions. The 

 nightingale diets upon a peculiar grub, and when 

 that is not found in the state he prefers, he departs. 

 The domestic swallow feeds round our houses or 

 in the meadow ; but the bank swallow never comes 

 near us, chases his food beneath the crag, and along 

 the stream. The swift prefers the higher ranges 

 of the air, dieting upon the flies that mount into 

 those regions. The goatsucker does not notice 

 the creatures of the day, capturing the moths and 

 dors of the night. The wheatear feeds only upon 

 such insects as he finds upon fallow lands, the down 

 or the heath ; and thus almost every individual 

 might be characterized by some propensity of ap- 

 petite, by some mode or place of feeding ; and 

 hence individuals are found as tenants of the home- 

 stead, the wild, the stream, the air, rock, down, 

 and grove in every place finding plenty, and ful- 



