538 



A HISTORY OF 



other-trees, hasbeenthoughtto be propagated 

 in this manner ; yet, as it is often seen grow- 

 ing on the under side of the branch, and 

 sometimes on a perpendicular shoot, it seems 

 extraordinary how a seed could be deposited 

 in that situation. However this be, there are 

 many plants propagated from the depositions 

 of birds ; and some seeds are thought to 

 thrive the better for first having undergone a 

 kind of maceration in the stomach of the lit- 

 tle animal, before it is voided on the ground. 



There are some agreeable songsters in this 

 tribe also; and those who like a loud piercing 

 pipe, endued with great variety and perseve- 

 rance, will be pleased most with their singing. 

 The songsters of this class are the canary- 

 bird, the linnet, the chaffinch, the gold-finch, 

 the green-finch, the bull-finch, the brambling, 

 the siskin, and the yellow-hammer. The note 

 of these is not so generally pleasing as that 

 of the soft-billed birds, but it usually holds 

 longer ; and, in a cage, these birds are more 

 easily fed, and more hardy. 



This class of small birds, like all the greater, 

 has its wanderers, that leave us for a season, 

 and then return, to propagate, to sing, or to 

 embellish the landscape here. Some of this 

 smaller kind, indeed, are called birds of pas- 

 sage, that do not properly come under that 

 denomination; for though they disappear in 

 one place, they never leave the kingdom, but 

 are seen somewhere else. But there are 

 many among them that take longer flights, 

 and go to a region colder or warmer, as it 

 suits their constitutions. The fieldfare and 

 the red-wing breed pass their summers in 

 Norway, and other cold countries, and are 

 tempted hither to our mild winters, and to 

 those various berries which then abound with 

 us, and make their principal food. The haw- 

 finch and the crossbill are uncertain visitants, 

 and have no stated times of migration. Swal- 

 lows of every species disappear at the ap- 

 proach of winter. The nightingale, the black- 

 cap, the fly-catcher, the willow-wren, the 

 wheat-ear, the whin-chat, and the stone-chat- 

 ter, leave us long before the approach of 

 winter; while the siskin and the linnet only 

 forsake us when our winters are more than 

 usually severe. All the rest of the smaller 



tribe never quit this country; but support 

 the severest rigours of the climate. 



Yet it must not be supposed that the man- 

 ners of our little birds prevail in all other 

 countries ; and that such kinds as are station- 

 ary with us, never wander in other parts of 

 Europe : on the contrary, it happens that 

 many of those kinds which are birds of pas- 

 sage in England, are seen, in other places, 

 never to depart, but to make one country 

 their fixed residence, the whole year round. 

 It is also frequent, that some birds, which 

 with us are faithful residents, in other king- 

 doms put on the nature of birds of passage, 

 and disappear for a season. 



The swallow, that with us is particularly 

 remarked for being a bird of passage, in 

 Upper Egypt, and in the island of Java, breeds 

 and continues the whole year, without ever 

 disappearing. Larks, that remain with us 

 the year throughout, are birds of passage in 

 Sweden ; and forsake that climate in winter 

 to return again with the returning spring. 

 The chaffich, that with us is stationary, ap- 

 pears during the winter in Carolina and 

 Virginia; but disappears totally in summer, 

 to breed in the more northern regions. In 

 Sweden, also, these little birds are seen re- 

 turning, at the approach of spring, from the 

 warmer climates, to propagate; which being 

 accomplished by the latter end of autumn, 

 the males and females separate; the males to 

 continue among their native snows, the fe- 

 males to seek a warmer and gentler winter. 

 On this occasion, they are seen in Hocks, 

 that darken all the air, without a single male 

 among them, making their way into the more 

 southern regions of Denmark, Germany, and 

 Holland. In this Amazon-like retrent. thou- 

 sands fall by the way ; some by fatigue, some 

 by want ; but the greatest number by the nets 

 of the fowler ; the taking them being one of 

 the chief amusements among the gentry where 

 they pass. In short, the change of country 

 with all this little tribe, is rather a pilgrimage 

 than a journey ; a migration rather of neces- 

 sity than of choice. 



Having thus givena generalidea of the birds 

 of this class, it will be proper to give some 

 account of the most remarkable among them- 



