SCT. XVI. 13. 2. OF INSTINCT. up 



their nefts a circumftance unthought of j the finches, that build 

 in green hedges, cover their habitations with green mofs ; the 

 fwallow or martin, that builds againfl rocks aiig houfes, covers 

 hers with clay, whilft the lark choofes vegetable draw nearly of 

 the colour of the ground (lie inhabits : by this contrivance, they 

 are all lefs liable to be difcovered by their adverfaries. 



2. Nor are the nefts of the fame fpecies of birds conftrufted 

 always of the fame materials, nor in the fame form ; which is 

 another circumftance that afcertains, that they are led by obfer- 

 vation. 



In the trees before Mr. Levet's houfe in Litchfield, there are 

 annually nefts built by fparrows, a bird which ufuaily builds un- 

 der the tiles of houfes', or the thatch of barns. Not finding fuch 

 convenient fituations for their nefts, they build a covered neft 

 bigger than a man's head, with an opening like a mouth at the. 

 fide, refembling that of a magpie, except that it is built with 

 ftraw and hay, and lined with feathers, and fo nicely managed 

 as to be a defence againft both wind and rain. 



The following extract from a Letter of the Rev. Mr. J. Dar- 

 win, of Carleton Scroop, in Lincolnfhire, authenticates a curious 

 fad of this kind. " When I mentioned to you the circum- 

 ftance of crows or rooks building in the fpire of Welbourn 

 church, you exprefled a defire of being well informed of the 

 certainty 'of the fad. Weibourn is fituated in the road from 

 Grantham to Lincoln, on the Cliff row ; I yefterday took a ride 

 thither, and inquired of the redor, Mr. Ridgehill, whether the 

 report was true, that rooks built in the fpire of his church. He 

 afTured me it was true, and that they had done fo time imme- 

 morial, as his parifhioners affirmed. There was a common tra- 

 dition, he faid, that formerly a Cookery in fome high trees ad- 

 joined the church yard, which being cut down, (probably in the 

 fpring, the building feafon), the rooks removed to the church, 

 and built their nefts on the outfide of the fpire on the tops of 

 windows, which by their projeUon a little from the fpire made 

 them convenient room, but that they built alfo on the infide. I 

 faw two nefts made with fticks on the outfide, and in the fpires, 

 and Mr. Ridgehill faid there were always a great many. 



" I fpent the day with Mr. Wright, a clergyman, at Fulbeck, 

 near Welbourn, and in the afternoon, Dr. Ellis of Leadenham^ 

 about two miles from Welbourn, drank tea at Mr. Wright's, who 

 faid he remembered, when Mr. Weihy lived at Welbourn, that 

 he received a letter from an acquaintance in the weft of Eng- 

 land, defining an anfwer, whether the report of rooks building 

 in Welbourn church was true, as a wager was depending on 



VOL. I. S that 



