POWER OF DIGESTION IN BIRDS. 207 



same hole in the wall, or the same branch on the 

 vine or the plum. Being perfectly harmless, and 

 hence never molested, they become 



Enamour'd with their ancient haunts, 

 and hover round. 



I once knew a pair of these birds bring off two 

 broods in one season from the same nest. This 

 flycatcher delights, in eminences. The naked spray 

 of a tree,, or projecting stone in a building, or even 

 a tall stick in the very middle of the grass-plot, is 

 sure to attract its attention, as affording an uninter- 

 rupted view of its winged prey ; and from this it 

 will be in constant activity a whole summer's day, 

 capturing its food, and returning to swallow it. 

 The digestion of some birds must be remarkably 

 rapid, to enable them to receive such constant re- 

 plenishments of food. The swift and the swallow 

 are feeding from the earliest light in the morning 

 till the obscurity of evening; the quantities of 

 cherries and raspberries that the blackcap and pet- 

 tichaps will eat are surprising, as they are unremit- 

 tingly consuming from morning till night ; and this 

 flycatcher seems to require a proportion of food equal 

 to any bird , being in constant progress, capturing one 

 moment, and resting the next. A pair of large tom- 

 tits (parus major) will attach themselves to a crop of 

 peas in our gardens, and unremittingly persevere in 

 the business of consuming them from morning until 

 night, without any abatement of appetite or lassi- 

 tude from employ : but all wild creatures require 

 quantities, and delight in a variety of food ; and 



