"Behold the Birds of the Air" 69 



by the way in which we are accustomed to speak of 

 species and assign them a character as if to individuals. 

 Thus an eminent naturalist 1 writes of one of our 

 commonest little birds, the Hedge-sparrow : " It is 

 unobtrusive and harmless, of an amiable disposition, 

 and deserves protection and support." The Long-tailed 

 Tit is set down by another writer 2 as a model of all 

 the family virtues, though with just a tinge of eccen- 

 tricity; while the common experience of mankind has 

 prepared them to set down every Magpie they meet as 

 a rogue, every Sparrow as a gamin, and every Robin as 

 an old friend. The Wren will always persist in the 

 seemingly purposeless labour of constructing several 

 nests, before deciding which to use, and the astute 

 egg-collector, when he sees little tufts of grass, as of 

 the foundations of a nest, in the bushes, will conclude 

 that there is probably a Blackcap's or a Garden-warbler's 

 nest in the neighbourhood. The Starling, apparently 

 to beguile the monotony of the long winter, will begin 

 fussing about the place where he intends to build, weeks 

 and weeks before he takes up the business in earnest; 

 the Tomtit will inspect and survey all manner of eligible 

 situations, and suddenly make up his mind to select 

 what seems a most unsuitable one; while the Fly-catcher 

 will have his site chosen and his house built within four 

 days of his return from the south. Nothing, to our 

 notions, is so fatal to hatching eggs as cold water, but 

 every mother Grebe has a natural philosophy of her 

 own, teaching her to bring damp weeds from the bottom 

 of the water, and cover with them the eggs in her nest, 

 when she wishes for a time to leave it. When walking 

 across a moor, if we observe a bird flitting, in half- 

 friendly, half-timid fashion, on our track, taking up a 

 position somewhat in front of us, and as we approach 

 advancing yet farther, again to await us, and so on 

 perhaps for a mile or more from the spot we first 

 observed him, we may be as certain as if we held him 



1 Yarrell. 2 Johns. 



