454 



A HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER LXXV. 



OF THE GENERATION, NESTLING, AND INCUBATION, OF BIRDS. 



THE return of spring is the beginning of 

 pleasure. Those vital spirits, which seemed 

 locked up during the winter, then begin to 

 expand ; vegetables and insects supply abun- 

 dance of food ; and the bird, having more 

 than a sufficiency for its own subsistence, is 

 impelled to transfuse life, as well as to main- 

 tain it. Those warblings, which had been 

 hushed during the colder seasons, now begin 

 to animate the fields; every grove and bush 

 resounds with the challenge of anger, or the 

 call of allurement. This delightful concert 

 of the grove, which is so much admired by 

 man, is no way studied for his amusement: 

 it is usually the call of the male to the female, 

 his efforts to soothe her during the times of 

 incubation; or it is a challenge between two 

 males, for the affections of some common fa- 

 vourite. 



It is by this call that birds begin to pair at 

 the approach of spring, and provide for the 

 support of a future progeny. The loudest 

 notes are usually from the male, while the 

 hen seldom expresses her consent, but in a 

 short interrupted twittering. This compact, 

 at least for the season, holds with unbroken 

 faith; many birds live with inviolable fidelity 

 together for a constancy ; and when one dies, 

 the other is always seen to share the same 

 fate soon after. We must not take our idea 

 of the conjugal fidelity of birds from observ- 

 ing the poultry in our yards, whose freedom 

 is abridged, and whose manners are totally 

 corrupted by slavery. We must look for it 

 in our fields and our forests, where nature 

 continues in unadulterated simplicity ; where 

 the number of males is generally equal to 

 that of females ; and where every little ani- 

 mal seems prouder of his progeny, than pleas- 

 ed with his mate. Were it possible to com- 

 pare sensations, the male of all wild birds 

 seems as happy in the young brood as the 

 female; and all his former caresses, all his 

 soothing melodies, seem only aimed at that 



important occasion, when they are both to 

 become parents, and to educate a progeny 

 of their own producing. The pleasures of 

 love appear dull in their effects, when com- 

 pared to the interval immediately after the 

 exclusion of their young. They both seem 

 at that season transported with pleasure; 

 every action testifies their pride, their impor- 

 tance, and tender solicitude. 



When the business of fecundation is per- 

 formed, the female then begins to lay. Such 

 eggs as have been impregnated by the cock 

 are prolific; and "such as have not, for she 

 lays often without any congress whatsoever, 

 continue barren, and are only addled by in- 

 cubation. Previous, however, to laying, the 

 work of nestling becomes the common care; 

 and this is performed with no small degree 

 of assiduity and apparent design. It has 

 been asserted, that birds of one kind always 

 make their nests in the same manner, and of 

 the same materials; but the truth is, that 

 they vary this as the materials, places, or cli- 

 mates, happen to differ. The red breast, in 

 some parts of England, makes its nest with 

 oak leaves, where they are in greatest plen- 

 ty; in other parts, with moss and hair. Some 

 birds, that with us make a very warm nest, 

 are less solicitous in the tropical climates, 

 where the heat of the weather promotes the 

 business of incubation. In general, however, 

 every species of birds has a peculiar archi- 

 tecture of its own ; and this adapted to the 

 number of eggs, the temperature of the cli- 

 mate, or the respective heat of the little ani- 

 mal's own body. Where the eggs are nu- 

 merous, it is then incumbent to make the nest 

 warm, that the animal heat may be equally 

 diffused to them all. Thus the wren, and all 

 the small birds, make the nest very warm ; 

 for having many eggs, it is requisite to dis- 

 tribute warmth to them in common: on the 

 contrary, the plover, that has but two eggs, 

 the eagle, and the crow, are not so solicitous 



