ANALOGIES OF THE HEDGE-SPARROW. 295 



the mother endeavours to divert it by a stratagem, similar 

 to that by which the partridge misleads the dog ; she 

 springs up, nutters from spot to spot, and by such means 

 allures her enemy to a safe distance." * Finally, it may 

 be incontestably proved, that although this bird is no 

 sparrow, yet that this name has been, in one sense, 

 rightly bestowed upon it. The true-sparrow (Pyr- 

 gita, C.) and the genus Accentor, mutually represent 

 each other ; for, by comparing the circles to which they 

 respectively belong (as we have just done with the hedge- 

 sparrow), these two groups stand in opposite or parallel 

 relations : hence the general similarity of their colours, 

 their familiarity, their mode of feeding, and the common 

 nature of their food ; and hence the name of hedge- 

 sparrow. Both, in short, are rasorial types, and much 

 which we have said of one belongs likewise to the 

 other. 



(358.) When, therefore, it can be shown, as in the 

 present instance, that every fact, however trivial or appa- 

 rently unimportant, that has yet transpired on the struc- 

 ture or habits of an animal can be accounted for by the 

 application of a few general laws, we may feel all the 

 assurance that demonstration can give, that our arrange- 

 ment is that of Nature. It seems impossible to conceive 

 that the ingenuity of man can invent those innumerable 

 proofs, and complicated verifications, thus applied to 

 a natural group. The first test is that of affinity, the 

 next of analogy, and the third of representation : and 

 these having been now illustrated down to the lowest 

 stage of analysis, we cannot conceive under what form fur- 

 ther demonstrative evidence can be produced. We have 

 selected for our purpose a faithful narrative of a familiar 

 bird, and which has been drawn up by one who could 

 have had no idea of the use that would subsequently be 

 made of his remarks. But numerous others could have 

 been cited, in addition to those whose affinities have 

 been already explained upon the same principles! in a 



* Bewick's Birds, vol. i. p. 222. 



t See various other examples in Northern Zoology, vol. ii. 



u 4 



