15-i 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



of treatment serves for all, as their food and 

 tlieir habits are nearly (he same. The man- 

 ner of taking and treating them, particularly 

 the nightingale, is this : A nightingale's nest 

 may be found by observing the place- where 

 the male sings, and then by sticking two or 

 three meal-worms (a kind of maggot found 

 it) flour) on some neighbouring thorn, which 

 when he sees he will infallibly bear away to 

 his young. By listening, he then may be 

 heard with the female chirping to the young 

 ones while they are feeding. When the nest 

 is found, if the young ones are not fledged 

 enough to be taken, they must not be touched 

 with the hands, for then the old ones will per- 

 ceive it, and entice them away. They should 

 not be taken till they are almost as full fea- 

 thers as the old ones ; and, though they refuse 

 their meat, yet, by opening their bills, you 

 may give them two or three small bits at a 

 lime, which will make them soon grow tame, 



inent. These iitsectivora, as useful as the fly-catchers and 

 swallows, sometimes in the flight, but more frequently 

 on the ground, amidst the herbage, seize upon the flies 

 fciid gnats which have escaped the murderous bills of 

 their other pursuers in the air. All the insect population of 

 ponds and marshes constitute the nutriment of these 

 volatiles. Their slight forms, little head, delicate feet, and 

 long tails, perpetually balanced, cause them to be at once 

 distinguishable from all other birds with slender bills. 



The wagtails are not distrustful, and are less fearful 

 of man than of the birds of prey. They are not even 

 much frightened by fire-arms, for, on being aimed at, 

 they do not fly far, and frequently return and place them- 

 selves within a short distance of the fowler. They give 

 into all kinds of snares which are laid for them, quite 

 easily ; but if taken when-adult, they cannot be preserv- 

 ed in cages, but will die in four-and-twenty hours. For 

 this purpose, they must be taken from the nest, and 

 reared like the nightingales. Of the species which fre- 

 quent Britain are the Pied Wagtail, the Gray or Water 

 Wagtail, and the Yellow Wagtail. 



The Pipits, or Field Larks, have much analogy with 

 those of the larks proper, though they differ in certain 

 details of conformation. Like the larks, they sing in 

 flying, and elevate themselves to a certain height in the 

 air. They seek their nutriment, nestle, and sleep on the 

 ground. Some frequent cultivated fields and meadows; 

 others delight, during the summer season, in the borders 

 of woods, in glades, in furze, and brushwood, thinly scat- 

 tered ; many prefer mountains, steep shores, rocks, and 

 maritime pastures. Some few, in fine, inhabit, during 

 Rummer, the little hills in sandy and stony situations, 

 and during the alter season, sojourn on the hanks of rivers, 

 and seek their food upon the strand. A very small num- 

 ber have the power of perching constantly upon trees. 

 There is a considerable trouble in distinguishing them 

 specifically. Of those common to Britain are the Rock 

 or Shore Pipit, the Meadow Pipit, or Tit, and the Tree 

 Pipit. 



Jiottle Tit or Long Tailed Titmouse. This elegant 

 little animal is about five inches and a half in length. 

 The bill is very short, the head round and covered 

 with rough erect feathers ; it has a very long tail, whence 

 its specific name. It is of a brownish colour, with black 

 leathers, in the tail edged with white. It is most com- 

 monly found in low moist situations that are covered 

 with underwood and interspersed with lofty oaks or elms. 

 Us nest is generally placed in the forked branch of a large 



when they will feed themselves. They should 

 be put, nest and all, into a little basket, which 

 should be covered up warm ; and they should 

 be fed every two hours. Their food should 

 be sheep's hearts, or other raw flesh-meat, 

 chopped very fine, and all the strings, skins, 

 and fat, taken away. But it should always 

 lie mixed with hard hen's eggs, upon which 

 they will feed and thrive abundantly. 



They should then be put in cages like the 

 nightingale's back cage, with a little straw or 

 dry moss at the bottom ; but when they are 

 grown large, they should have ant's mould. 

 They should be kept very clean, as indeed 

 should all singing-birds whatsoever; for other- 

 wise they will have the cramp, and perhaps the 

 claws will drop off. In autumn they will 

 sometimes abstain from their food for a fort- 

 night, unless two or three meal-worms be 

 given them twice or thrice a-week, or two or 

 three spiders in a day ; they must likewise 



tree overhanging the water, and it lays from twelve to 

 eighteen white eggs, spotted with rust colour at the 

 larger end, which are smaller than those of any other 

 British bird, with the exception of the golden-crested 

 wren. 



This bird, says Graves, " is almost incessantly in mo- 

 tion, running up and down the branches of trees in search 

 of food, which consists of the smaller species of insects, 

 also the larva; and eggs of those that deposit them in the 

 crevices of the bark. In the winter they associate in 

 small flocks of from eight to twelve, and sometimes 

 more, and are kept together by their continual chirping. 

 Like the nest, their colours assimilate so nearly with the 

 white moss, abundant on trees at that season of the year, 

 that, were it not for their note, it would be difficult to 

 find them. Owing to the length of its tail, its flight is 

 undulating and irregular, but most usually very quick, 

 seeming to pass through the air like an arrow." Jesse 

 remarks that the bill becomes harder in the winter than 

 in the summer, as it is then more worn in the act of 

 obtaining food from the frozen ground and hard wood. 

 The sight of this bird is remarkably acute. It flits with 

 the greatest quickness among the branches of trees, and 

 its food consists in a great measure of small inserts only 

 to be discerned with a microscope. ' 



Its nest is one of the most delicate and curiously con- 

 structed of all those of our British birds. It is much in 

 the form of a bottle (whence the provincial name of the 

 bird has been derived), with an opening at the side near 

 the top. The outer portion is composed of white and 

 gray tree lichens, in minute pieces, intermixed with the 

 egg-nests of spiders, which are composed of a kind of 

 gossamer or down-like envelope, of a small size, but 

 somewhat resembling the cocoon of a silk-worm, and are 

 found attached to the branches of trees, &c., enclosing 

 the eggs of the insect. A very interesting description 

 is given of them in the volume on Insect Transforma- 

 tion in the " Library of Entertaining Knowledge." With 

 these gossamer envelopes it joins and binds the different 

 leaves and mosses forming the exterior of the nest ; and 

 when the filaments become loosened it has very much 

 the appearance of having been worked with spiders'- 

 webs, an opinion entertained by the early naturalists. 

 The greater portion of the interior is formed of green 

 mosses nicely felted together with fine wool, lined with 

 a number of soft feathers, the upper part being composed 

 of strong broad moss, so closely woven together as to be 

 impervious to the wet. 



