256 HISTORY OF 



siskin, the bunting, the yellow-hammer, the orto- 

 lan, the wheat-ear, and several other foreign birds, 

 of which we know rather the names than the his- 

 tory. These chiefly feed upon fruits, grain, and 

 corn. They are often troublesome to man, as 

 they are a numerous tribe ; the harvest often 

 suffers from their depredations ; and while they 

 are driven off from one end of the field, they fly 

 round, and come in at the other. But these also 

 have their uses : they are frequently the distribu- 

 tors of seeds into different districts ; those grains 

 which they swallow, are sometimes not wholly 

 digested; and these, laid upon a soil congenial 

 to them, embellish the face of nature with that 

 agreeable variety which art but vainly attempts 

 to imitate. The mistletoe plant,, which we often 

 see growing on the tops of elm and other trees, 

 has been thought to be propagated in this man- 

 ner ; yet, as it is often seen growing on the under 

 side of the branch, and sometimes on a perpendi- 

 cular shoot, it seems extraordinary how a seed 

 could be deposited in that situation. However 

 this be, there are many plants propagated from 

 the depositions of birds ; and some seeds are 

 thought to thrive the better, for first having un- 

 dergone a kind of maceration in the stomach of 

 the little animal, before it is voided on the ground. 

 There are some agreeable songsters in this 

 tribe also; and those who like a loud piercing 

 pipe, endued with great variety and perseverance, 

 will be pleased most with their singing. The 

 songsters of this class are the canary-bird, the 

 linnet, the chaffinch, the goldfinch, the green- 



