THE SPARROW KIND. I4U 



when their insect food is no longer offered in plenty, but the red- 

 breast continues with us the year round, and endeavours to support 

 the famine of the winter by chirping round the warm habitations of 

 mankind, by coming into those shelters where the rigour of the sea 

 son is artificially expelled, and where insects themselves are found 

 in greater numbers, attracted by the same cause. 



This bird breeds differently in different places : in some countries 

 its nest is usually found in the crevice of some mossy bank, or at the 

 foot of a hawthorn in hedge-rows ; in others it chooses the thickest 

 coverts, and hides its nest with oak leaves. The eggs are from foui 

 to five, of a dull white, with reddish streaks. 



The Lark, whether the sky-lark, the wood, or the tit-lark, being all 

 distinguishable from other little birds by the length of their heel, are 

 louder in their song than either of the former, but not so pleasing. 

 Indeed, the music of every bird in captivity produces no very 

 pleasing sensations; it is but the mirth of a little animal, insensible 

 of its unfortunate situation ; it is the landscape, the grove, the golden 

 break of day, the contest upon the hawthorn, the fluttering from 

 branch to branch, the soaring in the air, and the answering of its 

 young, that gives the bird's song its true relish. These united improve 

 each other, and raise the mind to a ' state of the highest, yet most 

 harmless exultation. Nothing can, in this situation of mind, be more 

 pleasing than to see the lark warbling upon the wing, raising its note as 

 it soars, until it seems lost in the immense heights above us, the 

 note continuing, the bird itself unseen ; to see it then descending with 

 a swell as it comes from the clouds, yet sinking by degrees as it ap- 

 proaches its nest ; the spot where all its affections are centered ; the 

 spot that has prompted all this joy. 



The lark builds its nest upon the ground, beneath some turf that 

 serves to hide and shelter it. The female lays four or five eggs of a 

 dusky hue in colour, somewhat like those of a plover: It is while she 

 is sitting that the male thus usually entertains her with his singing, and 

 while he is rising to an imperceptible height, yet he still has his loved 

 partner in his eye, nor once loses sight of the nest either while he 

 ascends or is descending. This harmony continues several months, 

 beginning early in the spring on pairing. In winter they assemble 

 in flocks, when their song forsakes them, and the bird-catchers de- 

 stroy them in great numbers for the tables of the luxurious. 



The Black-cap and the Wren, though so very diminutive, are yef 

 prized by some for their singing. The former is called by some the 

 mock-nightingale, and the latter is admired for the loudness of its 

 note, compared to the little body from whence it issues. It must be 

 confessed that this disproportion between the voice of a bird and its 

 size, in some measure demands our wonder. Quadrupeds in this re- 

 spect may be considered as mutes to them. The peacock is louder 

 than the lion, and the rabbit is not so loud as the wren. But it must 

 be considered that birds are very differently formed ; their lungs in 

 some measure are extended through their whole body, while in quad- 

 rupeds they lie only in the breast. In birds there are a variety of 

 cells which take in the air, and thus pojur forth their contents at the 

 little animal's command. The black-cap and the wren, therefore. 



