310 HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS. 



I know at once, that, somewhere or other, she has 

 a nest of hungry little ones to provide for ; and that 

 she is on the look-out for eggs, or for young birds, 

 to supply their wants : and then I tell her I feel 

 sorry from my heart, that the pressing duty of pro- 

 viding for a large and ravenous family should ex- 

 pose her to the eternal enmity of man ; knowing full 

 well that, at other seasons of the year, she is a real 

 benefactress to. him, by clearing his fields of a world 

 of insects, which feed upon their produce. 



For reasons unknown to us, the birds are parti^ 

 cularly vociferous, both at early dawn, and at the 

 fall of night. But when I hear the partridge utter- 

 ing its well-known call in the middle of the day, I 

 comprehend at once, that it either sees bad company 

 close at hand, in the shape of cats or weasels, or 

 that its brood -has been surprised and dispersed by 

 some intruder; and that the individuals of the 

 covey are then calling to each other, from the 

 place of their retreat, in order that they may all 

 meet again in some more secure and more sheltered 

 quarter. 



This knowledge of the habits of birds, which at 

 once lets you into their little secrets, is only to be 

 obtained by a constant attention to the notes and 

 the habits of the feathered tribes in the open air. 

 It can never be learned in thfi solitude of the closet. 

 Those naturalists who pass nearly the whole of 

 their time in their study have it not in their 

 power to produce a work of real merit. On the 

 contrary, it too often happens that they do (most 

 unintentionally, no doubt, } a great deal of harm to 



