THE SPARROW KIND. 25? 



finch, the bullfinch, the brambling, the siskin, 

 and the yellow-hammer. The note of these is 

 not so generally pleasing as that of the soft-billed 

 birds, but it usually holds longer ; and in a cage, 

 these birds are more easily fed, and hardy. 



This class of small birds, like all the greater, 

 has its wanderers, that leave us for a season, and 

 then return, to propagate, to sing, or to embellish 

 the landscape here. Some of this smaller kind, 

 indeed, are called birds of passage, that do not 

 properly come under the denomination ; for 

 though they disappear in one place, they never 

 leave the kingdom, but are seen somewhere else. 

 But there are many among them that take longer 

 flights, and go to a region colder or warmer, as it 

 suits their constitutions. The field-fare and the 

 red-wing breed pass their summers in Norway, 

 and other cold countries, and are tempted hither 

 to our mild winters, and to those various berries 

 which then abound with us, and make their prin- 

 cipal food. The hawfinch and the crossbill are 

 uncertain visitants, and have no stated times of 

 migration. Swallows of every species disappear 

 at the approach of winter. The nightingale, the 

 black-cap, the fly-catcher, the willow-wren, the 

 wheat-ear, the whin-chat, and the stone-chatter, 

 leave us long before the approach of winter ; 

 while the siskin and the linnet only forsake us 

 when our winters are more than usually severe. 

 All the rest of the smaller tribe never quit this 

 country, but support the severest rigours of the- 

 climate. 



VOL. IV. 



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