BIRDS OF THE SPARROW-KIND. 237 



flight into a different part of it ; but there are many that 

 make much longer excursions ; the fieldfare and the red- 

 wing pass their summers, and breed in Norway, or some 

 other cold clime ; the hawfinch and the crossbill mi- 

 grate at uncertain times. Swallows of every species 

 disappear at the approach of winter; whilst the night- 

 ingale, the black-cap, the fly-catcher, the willow-wren, 

 the wheat-ear, the win-chat, and the stone-chatter, 

 quit us long before it arrives : but the siskin and the 

 linnet only leave us when it is remarkably severe ; and 

 all the rest support the changes of our clime. 



In Egypt, and the island of Java, the swallow never 

 disappears : larks, which with us are stationary compa- 

 nions, in Sweden, at the approach of winter, instantly 

 take their flight ; and the chaffinch, which is likewise 

 our constant inhabitant, quits Carolina and Virginia at 

 the summer's approach. 



OF THE THRUSH, AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



With the thrush we may rank thte red-wing, the 

 field-fare, the blackbird, the ring-ouzel, and the water- 

 ouzel, as being the largest of the sparrow-kind, and 

 distinguished from the rest by their bills rather bending 

 at their point, and the outmost toe adhering to the mid- 

 dle one, as far as the first joint. The stare, or starling, 

 may be likewise added to the class, though its bill is of 

 a different make. 



The missel-thrush is the largest of any bird that is 

 endowed with an harmonious voice ; it differs very 

 little from the throstle, except that the spots on the 

 breast are of a larger size. It builds its nest among 

 bushes, or on the side of some tree, and never lays 

 more than four or five eeffs. 



The blackbird is the deepest-toned warbler of the 



