Skcr. XVI. 13. OFlNSTINct. 



merous, thefe birds build in forfaken rabbit bur- 

 rows. See a curious account of thefe fubterra- 

 nean nefts in White's Hiftory of Selbourn, p. 59. 

 Can the ikilful change of architecture in thefe 

 birds and the fparrows above mentioned be go- 

 verned by inftinct ? Then they muft have two in- 

 ftincts, one for common, and the other for extra- 

 ordinary occafions. 



I have feen green worded in a neft, which no 

 where exifts in nature : and the down of thirties irt 

 thofe nefts, that were by fome accident conftructed 

 later in the fummer, which material could not be 

 procured for the earlier nefts : in many different 

 climates they cannot procure the fame materials^ 

 that they ufe in ours. And it is well known, that 

 the canary birds, that are propagated in this coun- 

 try, and the finches, that are kept tame, will build 

 their nefts of any flexile materials, that are given 

 them. Plutarch, in his Book on Rivers, fpeaking 

 of the Nile, fays* " that the fwallows collect a ma- 

 terial, when the waters recede, with which they 

 form nefts, that are impervious to water." And in 

 India there is a fwallow that collects a glutinous 

 fubftance for this purpofe, whofe neft is efculent, 

 and efteemed a principal rarity amongft epicures, 

 (Lin. Syft. Nat.) Both thefe muft be conftruded of 

 very different materials from thofe ufed by the fwal- 

 lows of our country. 



In India the birds exert more artifice in building 

 their nefts on account of the monkeys and fnakes : 

 fome form their penfile nefts in the fliape of a purfe, 

 deep and open at top; others with a hole in the 

 fide ; and others, ftill more cautious, with an en- 

 trance at the very bottom, forming their lodge 

 near the fummit. But the taylor-bird will not 

 ever truft its neft to the extremity of a, tender twig, 

 but makes one more advance to fafety by fixing it 

 to the leaf itfelf. It picks up a dead leaf, and fews 



VOL. I, P i 



