OF THE SPARROW KIND. 



135 



During this interval also they preserve a per- 

 fect silence, uttering not the slightest note, 

 till the parent returns. Her arrival is always 

 announced by a chirrup, which they perfectly 

 understand, and which they answer all to- 

 gether, each petitioning for its portion. The 

 parent distributes a supply to each by turns, 

 cautiously avoiding to gorge them, but to give 

 them often, though little at a time. The 

 wren will in this manner feed seventeen or 

 eighteen young ones without passing over one 

 of them. 



Such is the manner in which these birds 

 bring forth and hatch their young ; but it re- 

 mains to usher them from the nest into life, 

 and this they very assiduously perform. When 

 they are fully fledged, and fitted for short 

 flights, the old ones, if the weather be fair, 

 lead them a few yards from the nest, and then 

 compel them to return. For two or three 

 succeeding days they are led out in the same 

 manner, but each day to seek more distant 

 adventures. When it is perceived that they 

 can fly, and shift for themselves, then the 

 parents forsake them for ever, and pay them 

 no more attention than they do to other birds 

 in the same flock. Indeed, it would seem 

 among these little animals that, from the 

 moment their young are set out, all future 

 connection ceases between the male and female; 

 they go separate ways, each to provide for 

 itself during the rigours of winter; and, at 

 the approach of spring, each seeks for a new 

 associate. 



In general, birds, when they come to pair 

 in the spring, associate with those of their 

 own age and place of abode. Their strength 

 or courage is generally in proportion to their 

 age : the oldest females first feel the accesses 

 of desire, and the oldest males are the boldest 

 to drive off all younger pretenders. Those 

 next in courage and desire become pretenders, 

 fill they are almost all provided in turn. The 

 youngest corne last ; as, in fact, they are the 

 latest in their inclinations. But still there are 

 several, both males and females, that remain 

 unprovided for ; either not happening to meet 

 with each other, or at least not during the 

 genial interval. Whether these mix with 

 small birds of a different species, is a doubt 

 which naturalists have not been able thorough- 

 ly to resolve. Addison, in some beautiful 

 Latin lines, inserted in the Spectator, is en- 

 tirely of opinion that birds observe a strict 

 chastity of manners, and never admit the 

 caresses of a different tribe. 



" Chaste arc their instincts, faithful is their fire, 

 No foreign beauty tempts to false desire : 

 The snow-white vesture, and the glittering crown. 

 The simple plunge, or the glossy down, 

 Prompt not their love. The patriot bird pursues 

 Hi s well acquainted tints, and kindred hues : 



Hence thr.i' their tribes no mix'd polluted flame, 

 No monster-breed to mark the groves with shame: 

 But the chaste blackbird, to its partner true, 

 1 hink's black alone is Beauty's fav'rite hue: 

 The nightingale, " f ith mutual passion bless d 

 Sings to its mate, and nightly charms the nest 

 While the dark owl, to court his partner flies, 

 And owns his oft'opring in their yellow eyes." 



But whatever may be the poet's opinion, 

 the probability is against this fidelity among 

 the smaller tenants of the grove. The great 

 birds are much more true to thetf species than 

 these ; and, of consequence, the varieties among 

 them are more few. Of the ostrich, the casso- 

 wary, and the eagle, there are but few species ; 

 and no arts that man can use could probably 

 induce them to mix with each other. 



But it is otherwise with the small birds we 

 are describing ; it requires very little trouble 

 to make a species between a goldfinch and a 

 canary-bird, between a linnet and a lark. 

 They breed frequently together ; and produce 

 a race, not like the mules among quadrupeds, 

 incapable of breeding again ; for this motley 

 mixture are as fruitful as their parents. What 

 is so easily done by art, very probably hap- 

 pens in a state of nature ; and when the male 

 cannot find a mate of his own species he flies 

 to one of another, that, like him, has been left 

 out in pairing. This, some historians think, 

 may have given rise to the great variety of 

 small birds that are seen among us ; some un- 

 common mixture might first have formed a 

 new species, and this might have been con- 

 tinued down, by birds of this species choosing 

 to breed together. 



Whether the great variety of our small 

 birds may have arisen from this source cannot 

 now be ascertained ; but certain it is that they 

 resemble each other very strongly, not only in 

 their form and plumage, but also in their 

 appetites and manner of living. The gold- 

 finch, the linnet, and the yellow-hammer, 

 though obviously of different species, yet lead 

 a very similar life ; being equally an active, 

 lively, salacious tribe, that subsist by petty 

 thefts upon the labours of mankind, and repay 

 them with a song. Their nests bear a 

 similitude ; and they are all about the same 

 time in hatching their young, which is usually 

 fifteen days. Were I, therefore, to describe 

 the manners of these with the same minute- 

 ness that I have done the greater birds, I 

 should only present the reader with a repeti- 

 tion of the same accounts; animated neither 

 by novelty nor information. Instead, there- 

 fore, of specifying each sort, I will throw them 

 into groups ; uniting those together that prac- 

 tise the same manners, or that are remarkable 

 for similar qualifications. 



Willoughby has divided all the smaller 

 birds into those that have slender bills, and 

 those that have short and thick bills. Those 



