FOREIGN BIRDS. 



nal season, afford us frequently the best periods for 

 observing some of our occasional visiting birds. 

 Upon their first arrival, and for a time afterwards, 

 their notes announce their presence ; but they are 

 not always to be seen with satisfaction, and scat- 

 tered in retired places, or occupied in the business 

 of incubation, when they are particularly wary and 

 suspicious, they are but casually noticed : but in 

 the times above stated, our gardens, shrubberies, 

 and orchards, become their resort, seeking for the 

 fruits usually produced in those places. And, first, 

 the petty-chaps, with all her matured brood, is cer- 

 tain to be found, feeding voraciously upon our 

 cultivated berries, or mining a hole in the fig or 

 jargonel pear ; and so intent are they upon this 

 occupation, that they will permit a reasonable ex- 

 amination of their form and actions, but at other 

 periods it is difficult to approach them. The black- 

 cap discontentedly flits about our inclosures and 

 thickets all the summer through, building her nest 

 or tending her young ; the fine clear harmony of 

 the male bird resounding in the morning from the 

 brake, yet, timid and alarmed, he ceases and hides 

 himself if we approach : but now he introduces all 

 his progeny to our banquet ; cautious still, we can 

 yet observe his actions, and easily distinguish the 

 black or brown heads of the sexes, as they are 

 occupied beneath the foliage of an Antwerp rasp- 

 berry. The white*throats now, too, leave their 



