HISTORY OF BIRDS. 

 BOOK V. 



OF BIRDS OF THE SPARROW KIND. 



CHAP. I. 



OF BIRDS OF THE SPARROW KIND. 



STILL descending from the larger to the smaller, 

 we come to birds of the sparrow kind ; or that 

 class of beautiful little animals that, being 

 less than the pigeon, go on diminishing till 

 we arrive at the humming-bird, the smallest 

 of the feathered creation. 



The birds which compose this class chiefly 

 live in the neighbourhood of man, and are his 

 greatest favourites. The falcon may be more 

 esteemed, and the turkey more useful; but 

 these he considers as servants, not as friends; 

 as animals reclaimed merely to supply him 

 with some of the conveniences of life: but 

 these little painted songsters have his affec- 

 tions, as well from their beauty as their me- 

 lody; it is this delightful class that fill his 

 groves with harmony, and lift his heart to 

 sympathize with their raptures. All the 

 other classes are either mute or screaming; it 

 is this diminutive tribe only that have voices 

 equal to the beauty of their figures ; equally 

 adapted to rejoice man, and delight each 

 other. 



As they are the favourites of man, so they 

 are chiefly seen near him. All the great 

 birds dread his vicinity, and keep to the thick- 

 est darkness of the forest, or the brow of the 

 most craggy precipice : but these seldom re- 

 sort to the thicker parts of the wood; they 

 keep near its edges, in the neighbourhood of 

 cultivated fields, in the hedge-rows of farm- 

 grounds, and even in the yard, mixing with 

 the poultry. 



It must be owned, indeed, that their living 

 near man is not a society of affection on their 

 part, as they approach inhabited grounds 

 merely because their chief provision is to be 

 found there. In the depth of the desert, or 



the gloom of the forest, there is no grain to be 

 picked up; none of those tender buds that are 

 so grateful to their appetites : insects them- 

 selves, that make so great a part of their food, 

 are not found there in abundance ; their na- 

 tures being unsuited to the moisture of the 

 place. As we enter, therefore, deeper into 

 uncultivated woods, the silence becomes more 

 profound ; every thing carries the look of 

 awful stillness; there are none of those war- 

 blings, none of those murmurs, that awaken 

 attention, as near the habitations of men ; 

 there is nothing of that confused buzz, formed 

 by the united, though distant voices of quad- 

 rupeds and birds ; but all is profoundly dead 

 and solemn. Now and then, indeed, the tra- 

 veller may be roused from this lethargy 01 

 life, by the voice of a heron, or the scream of 

 an eagle ; but his sweet little friends and 

 warblers have totally forsaken him. 



There is still another reason for these little 

 birds avoiding the depths of the forests ; which 

 is, that their most formidable enemies usually 

 reside there. The greater birds, like robbers, 

 choose the most dreary solitudes for their re- 

 treats; and if they do not find, they make a 

 desert all around them. The small birds fly 

 from their tyranny, and take protection in the 

 vicinity of man, where they know their more 

 unmerciful foes will not venture to pursue 

 them. 



All birds, even those of passage, seem con- 

 tent with a certain district to provide food and 

 centre in. The red -breast or the wren seldom 

 leaves the field where it has been brought up, 

 or where its young have been excluded ; even 

 though hunted it flies along the hedge, and 

 seems fond of the place with an imprudent 

 perseverance. The fact is, all these small 

 birds mark out a territory to themselves, 

 which they will permit none of their own 

 species to remain in ; they guard their doini- 



