THESPARROWKIND. 65 



The Peacock-pigeon that (female as well as male) fpreads the tail 

 is a curious variety, has thirty feathers in the tail (others have but 

 twelve) ; they advance theif tail when they fpread it, and throw back the 

 head till it almoft touches the tail, trembling all the time, and agitating 

 the head and neck. The wind often adts fo powerfully on this large tail 

 as to dafh them to the ground. 



To this lift might be added a long catalogue of foreign pigeons, of 

 which we know little more than the plumage and the names. The 

 Crown-fowl, which belongs to the family of pigeons, is in fize equal 

 to a turkey j native of the ifle of Banda : in India they breed them as 

 poultry. In America a fpccies the fize of a lark. 



BIRDS ^OF THE SPARROW KIND. 



THESE chiefly live in the neighbourhood of man, and amoiig 

 them are thofe endowed with mufical notes. Their living near man 

 is not the refuk of aflfeftion but of neccflity, and becaufe inhabited 

 grounds furniHi their chief provifion ; the defert yields neither grain nor 

 tender buds, nor infects ; the rtceflTes of the foreft abound in enemies, 

 not in advantages. All birds, even thofe of pafiage, feem content with 

 a certain diftrift to provide food and Iheltcr in. The red-breaft or the 

 wren feldom leaves the field to which it is accuiiomed ; they mark out 

 a territory to themifclves, on which they will permit none of their own 

 fpecies to encroach; but guard their dominions with theutmoft vigilance. 

 When food is in plenty they never wander. Some are called birds of 

 paflage, becaufe obliged to take long journeys for this neceflary ; but, 

 ftri(ftly fpeaking, moft other kinds are birds of paffage, though their 

 migration is lefs extenfive, either from one county to another, or 

 from the more inland provinces toward the (bore. Refpeding thefe, 

 autumn is the principal feafon when the bird-catcher employs his arc 

 to entrap the wanderers, which is chiefly cfredled by the aid of his call- 

 birds J thefe having moulted prematurely in a warm cage, call louder and 

 better than thofe that are wild : there even appears a malicious joy in 

 thefe call-birds, to bring the wild ones into captivity. . Their fight or 

 hearing is exquifitc ; the inftant the wild birds are perceived, notice is 

 given by one of the call-birds, who all unite in the fame tumultuous 

 ecftafy of pleafure, inciting the wild ones by fhort jerks. The allure- 

 ment of this call is fo great, that the wild bird on hearing it is (topped in 



its 



