STARLINGS. 217 



possessed but of one wing to bear them in their upward flight. 

 In the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, where reeds 

 are of considerable value for various purposes, the mischief 

 they occasion is often very considerable, by beating down and 

 breaking them, as many as can find a grasping hold clinging 

 to the same slender stem, which, of course, bends and plunges 

 them in the water, from whence they rise to join some other 

 neighbours, whose reed is still able to bear their weight. This 

 perpetual jostling and breaking down is the probable cause of 

 the incessant clatter, which continues for a considerable time ; 

 indeed, till all have procured dry beds and a firm footing. 



It has been remarked, that the flights of these birds have 

 of late years much diminished, a fact to which we can speak 

 from our own experience, for the assemblages which we have 

 just described as forming so interesting a feature in autumnal 

 evening walks have long ago ceased ; and it is now a rare thing 

 to see a passing flock of even fifty, where, in years gone by, 

 they mustered in myriads. 



Their favourite dormitory of reeds, indeed, has dwindled 

 gradually away, since the dam was raised, and the depth of 

 water increased, which may partly account for the diminution ; 

 but still reeds are left in sufficient abundance for the accom- 

 modation of ten times the number that are ever assembled in 

 the neighbourhood of which we speak. 



Under the head of Fringilla, or Finch, (which is our trans- 

 lation of the Latin word,) are included, amongst Sparrows, 

 Goldfinches, and Canaries, tribes of small birds, each ex- 

 hibiting in its own domestic habits and arrangements, as 

 much sound philosophy and wisdom in the management of 

 their concerns, as the wisest of human kind. 



Some of these little birds, moreover, seem occasionally to 

 have something like a reasoning, as well as an instinctive 

 faculty. A gentleman had a Goldfinch which was chained to 

 a perch, instead of being kept in a cage. Its food was put 

 into a box, resembling a water fountain used for cages, and 

 the little opening at which the bird was fed had a cover 

 loaded with lead, to make it fall down. The bird raised this 

 by pushing down a lever or handle with its bill, which raised 



