BIRDS. 445 



Hence we may see that granivorous birds, when grain 

 fails, can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. There is 

 reason to suppose that they would not long be healthy 

 without ; for turkeys, though corn-fed, delight in a va- 

 riety of plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c. and 

 poultry pick much grass ; while geese live for months 

 together on commons by grazing alone. 







" Nought is useless made : 



On the barren heath 



The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop 

 Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf 

 Sufficient: after them the cackling goose, 

 Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want." 



PHILIPS 's CIDER 10 . 



10 That many granivorous birds feed also on the herbage or leaves of 

 plants, there can be no doubt : partridges and larks frequently feed on 

 the green leaves of turnips, which gives a peculiar flavour to their flesh, 

 that is, to me, very palatable : the flavour also of wild ducks and geese 

 greatly depends on the nature of their food ; and their flesh frequently 

 contracts a rank unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong 

 marshy aquatic plants, as I suppose. 



That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive to the 

 health of birds, seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and tur- 

 keys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small. MARKWICK. 



that the annual migration is much more general in North America than 

 in Europe, owing, no doubt, to the greater severity of the winters there, 

 which would render it impossible for the soft-billed birds to find food. 

 Even in our own country, some of those which do not migrate, are, in 

 severe winters, exposed to great privations. At first view it appears 

 not a little singular, that, among birds differing very little in habit, some 

 should remain with us, and others should migrate ; but a slight know- 

 ledge of natural history will lead to a solution of the singularity. Soft- 

 billed birds, like the robin, depend upon caterpillars and worms for their 

 principal food ; and, as many species of caterpillars live through the 

 winter, such birds are enabled to procure food. In open weather, also, 

 earthworms occasionally make their appearance as well as small slugs. 

 The redbreast, accordingly, and more particularly the wren, may be seen 

 prying with a keen eye into the roots of trees and shrubs for the cater- 

 pillars, which lurk there, and hopping over the grass-plots in gardens 

 to pounce upon an earthworm, that may have strayed from its hole; 

 while the wagtail endeavours to pick up a scanty meal of the small win- 

 ter gnats, which occasionally play about running water in fine weather. 

 The winter supply, however, of live insects would be far from sufficient 

 for the numerous soft-billed birds which haunt our woods and- hedges 



