236 BIRDS OF THE SPARROW -KIND. 



snare : these the bird-catchers place in small cages, to 

 induce the others to alight near them by the sound of 

 their voice. 



The nests of small birds are much more delicately 

 contrived than any of those of the larger kind ; for, as 

 their bodies are much smaller, they cannot contain so 

 much heat ; yet this deficiency is supplied by lining 

 them with wool or down. As these little creatures live 

 chiefly upon insects, they are of the utmost service to 

 the farmer in clearing his grounds of those pernicious 

 swarms of vermin which devour the budding leaves, 

 and even sometimes penetrate to the very root. 



Willoughby has divided into two classes those that 

 have slender bills, and those that are short and thick ; 

 those of the former live chiefly upon insects, and those 

 of the latter upon fruits and grain. Among slender- 

 billed birds he enumerates the thrush, the blackbird, 

 the fieldfare, the lark, the starling, the titmouse, the 

 water-wagtail, the nightingale, the red-start, the robin- 

 redbreast, the beccafigo, the stone-chatter, the winchat, 

 the goldfinch, the white-throat, the hedge-sparrow, 

 the pettichaps, the golden-crowned wren, the wren, the 

 humming-bird, and several other small birds of the 

 sparrow-kind, unknown in this part of the world. 



Birds of the sparrow-kind, with thick short bills, are 

 the grossbeak, the greenfinch, the bullfinch, the cross- 

 bill, the house-sparrow, the chaffinch, the brambling, 

 the goldfinch, the linnet, the siskin, the bunting, the 

 yellow-hammer, the ortolon, the wheat-ear, and several 

 other foreign birds, of which we rather know their 

 names than history. 



This class of small birds, like the great ones, has iti 

 wanderers that leave us for a season, and then return ; 

 some quit the kingdom, whilst others only take their 



