THE THRUSH. 



137 



they are a numerous tribe; the harvest often 

 suffers from their depredations; and while 

 they are driven off from one end of the field, they 

 fly round, and come in at the other. But 

 these also have their uses: they are frequently 

 the distributors of seeds into different districts ; 

 those grains which they swallow are some- 

 times not wholly digested ; and these, laid 

 upon a soil congenial to them, embellish the 

 lace of nature with that agreeable variety, 

 which art but vainly attempts to imitate. The 

 mistletoe plant, which we often see growing 

 on the tops of elm and other trees, has been 

 thought to be propagated in this manner; yet, 

 as it is often seen growing on the under side 

 of the branch, and sometimes on a perpendi- 

 cular shoot, it seems extraordinary how a seed 

 could be deposited in that situation. How- 

 ever this be, there are many plants propaga- 

 ted from the depositions of birds ; and some 

 seeds are thought to thrive the better for first 

 having undergone a kind of maceration in the 

 stomach of the little animal, before it is voided 

 on the ground. 



There are some agreeable songsters in this 

 tribe also; and those who like a loud piercing 

 pipe, endued with great variety and perseve- 

 rance, will be pleased most with their sing- 

 ing. The songsters of this class are the ca- 

 nary-bird, the linnet, the chaffinch, the gold- 

 finch, the green-finch, the bull-finch, the 

 brambling, the siskin, and the yellow-ham- 

 mer. 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 more 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 that 

 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 fieldfare 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 principal food. The haw- 

 finch and the crossbill are uncertain visitants, 

 and have no stated times of migration. Swal- 

 lows of every species disappear at the ap- 

 proach of winter. The nightingale, the black- 

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

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

 ter leave us long before the approach of win- 

 ter : while the siskin and the linnet only for- 

 sake us when our winters are more than usu- 



VOL. II. 



ally severe. All the rest of the smaller tribe 

 never quit this country : but support the se- 

 verest rigours of the climate. 



Yet it must not be supposed that the man- 

 ners of our little birds prevail in all other 

 countries ; and that such kinds as are station- 

 ary with us never wander in other parts of 

 Europe ; on the contrary, it happens that 

 many of those kinds which are birds of pas- 

 sage in England are seen, in other places, 

 never to depart, but to make-ene-country their 

 fixed residence the whole year round. It is 

 frequent, that some birds, which with us are 

 faithful residents, in other kingdoms put on 

 the nature of birds of passage, and disappear 

 for a season. 



The swallow, that with us is particularly 

 remarked for being a bird of passage, in Upper 

 Egypt, and in the island of Java, breeds and 

 continues the whole year, without ever disap- 

 pearing. Larks, that remain with us the 

 year throughout, are birds of passage in Swe- 

 den ; and forsake that climate in winter to re- 

 turn again with the returning spring. The 

 chaffinch, that with us is stationary, appears 

 during the winter in Carolina and Virginia ; 

 but disappears totally in summer to breed in 

 the northern regions. In Sweden, also, these 

 little birds are seen returning, at the approach 

 of spring, from the warmer climates, to pro- 

 pagate; Avhich being accomplished by the 

 latter end of autumn, the males and females 

 separate; the males to continue among their 

 native snows, the females to seek a warmer 

 and gentler winter. On this occasion, they 

 are seen in flocks, that darken all the air, 

 without a single male among them, making 

 their way into the more southern regions ol 

 Denmark, Germany, and Holland. In this 

 Amazon-like retreat thousands fall by the 

 way; some by fatigue, some by want ; but the 

 greatest number by the nets of the fowler ; the 

 taking them being one of the chief amuse- 

 ments among the gentry where they pass. In 

 short, the change of country with all this 

 little tribe, is rather a pilgrimage than a jour- 

 ney : a migration rather of necessity than of 

 choice. 



Having thus given a general idea of the 

 birds of this class, it will be proper to give 

 some account of the most remarkable among 

 them. 



CHAP. II. 



OF THE THRUSH, AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



WITH the Thrush we may rank the red- 

 wing, the field-fare, the blackbird, the ring- 

 1 Thrushes proper. In all systems of ornithology tl:e 



