262 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



Birds are much influenced in their choice of food by colour, 

 for though white currants are a much sweeter fruit than red, yet 

 they seldom touch the former till they have devoured every 

 bunch of the latter. 



Redstarts, flycatchers, and blackcaps, arrive early in April. If 

 these little delicate beings are birds of passage (as we have reason 

 to suppose they are, because they are never seen in winter) how 

 could they, feeble as they seem, bear up against such storms of 

 snow and rain, and make their way through such meteorous tur- 

 bulences, as one should suppose would embarrass and retard the 

 most hardy and resolute of the winged nation ? Yet they keep 

 their appointed times and seasons ; and in spite of frosts and 

 winds return to their stations periodically, as if they had met 

 with nothing to obstruct them. The withdrawing and appear- 

 ance of the short-winged summer birds is a very puzzling cir- 

 cumstance in natural history ! 



When the boys bring me wasps' nests, my bantam fowls fare 

 deliciously, and, when the combs are pulled to pieces, devour the 

 young wasps in their maggot state with the highest glee and 



being merely the same note, repeated gradually quicker and quicker till it reaches the ground 

 The summer plumage is considerably more dusky than that of winter., 



Closely allied to it is the shore pipit (A> ofescwru)> called mud-lark by the London bird-catchers , 

 of larger size and much darker colour, with the hind-claw somewhat less elongated, and the bill 

 proportionably longer and larger. This species almost exclusively inhabits the sea-shore, where 

 it abounds on many parts of the coast, subsisting, for the most part (as 1 hare ascertained by 

 dissection), on small-shelled mollusca. The common pipit also frequents the same localities. 

 The shore pipit rises singing into the air in exactly the same manner as the former, with the 

 same monotonous pip, pip, pip ; but its notes are pleasingly varied in the descent, a little remind- 

 ing one of those of the domestic canary. It migi-ates partially within the limits of the island, 

 being found only in winter in some parts of the southern coast; and, in autumn, occasionally 

 ventures inland, being taken sometimes hear London by the bird-catchers. Both this and the 

 former species are veiy commonly the foster-parent of a young cuckoo. 



Next we have the tree pipit (A- arboreus), the titlark of Mr. White's letters and of the bird- 

 catchers, though in books this name has been erroneously applied to the A- communis- It is by 

 far the most beautiful of the genus, and the sweetest songster, and differs in many particulars 

 from the rest. The bill is thicker at the base, more conical, and lark-like ; the feet have more of 

 a perching character, the toes being longer, with the hind claw shorter and more curved ; and 

 there is lesjj difference between its summer and winter plumage. Its general aspect is also very 

 different, being more equally poised on the centre of gravity, whence its movements are more 

 graceful, and they are also much more deliberate than those of the others. It is a migratory 

 species, chiefly inhabiting enclosed situations, more particularly where a few tall trees grow out 

 of the hedge. There it warbles forth its sweet melody, often perched at a considerable height 

 from the ground, and frequently as it slowly sails downward, having only the characteristic 

 pipit-cry when ascending. After moulting at the close of summer, they assemble in small flocks, 

 apparently the amount of broods, soon after which the majority leave the country. This species 

 is much sought after by bird-catchers, in order to teach its song to young canaries, the best song- 

 sters of which are usually reared under the tree pipit and nightingale. 



The great pipit (A- mcucimus ; Ricardi, auct.) is a very rare bird all over Europe, at once dis- 

 tinguishable by its much larger size. It is in every respect a true anthus, and a specimen lately 

 caught near London by a bird-catcher, during its autumnal moult, enables me to say that its 

 changes are similar to those of A- communis. It is not improbably a summer visitant. ED. 



