14 HISTORY OF 



111 general, however, every bird resorts to hatch in those cli- 

 mates and places where its food is found in greatest plenty ; 

 and always at that season when provisions are in the greatest 

 abundance. The large birds, and those of the aquatic kinds, 

 choose places as remote from man as possible, as their food is 



mate. The wood pigeon and the jay, though they erect their fabrics on the 

 tall underwood in the open air, will construct them so slightly, and with 

 such a scanty provision of materials, that they seem scarcely adequate to 

 support their broods, and even their eggs may almost be seen through the 

 loosely couuected materials : but the goldfinch, that iuimitable spinner, the 

 Arachne of the grove, forms its cradle of fine mosses and lichens, collected 

 from the apple or the pear-tree, compact as a felt, lining it with the down 

 of thistles besides, till it is as warm as any textwe of the kind can be, and 

 it becomes a model for beautiful construction. The golden-crested wren, a 

 minute creature perfectly iminindful of any severity in our winter, and 

 which hatches its young in June, the warmer portion of our year, yet 

 builds its most beautiful nest with the utmost attention to warmth ; and in. 

 weaving small branches of moss with the web of the spider, forms a closely 

 compacted texture nearly an inch in thickness, lining it mth such a pro- 

 fusion of feathers, that, sinking deep into this downy accumulation, it seems 

 almost lost itself when sitting, and the young when hatched, appear stifled 

 with the warmth of tlieir bedding and the heat of their apartment ; wliile 

 the white throat, the blackcap, and others, which will hatch their young nearly 

 at the same period, or in July require notliing of the kind. A few loose bents 

 and goose-grass, rudely entwined, with perhaps the luxury of some scatter- 

 ed hairs, are perfectly sufficient for all the wants of these ; yet they are birds 

 that live only in genial temperatures, feel nothing of the icy gales that are 

 natural to our pretty iiidigenous artists, but flit from sim to sun, and we 

 might suppose would require much warmth in our climate dxu'ing the sea- 

 son of incubation ; but it is not so. The greenfinch places its nest in the 

 hedge with little regard to concealment ; its fabric is slovenly and rude, and 

 the materials of the coarsest kinds ; wliile the chaffinch, just above it in the 

 elm, hides its nest with cautioiis c.ire, and moulds it with the utmost atten. 

 tion to order, neatness, and form. One bird must have a hole in the ground ; 

 to another a crevice in the wall, or a chink in a tree, is indispensable. The 

 bullfinch requires fine roots for its nest ; the grey fly-catcher will have 

 cobwebs for the outworks of its shed. All the parus tribe, except the in 

 dividual above mentioned, select some hollow in a tree or cranny in 

 a wall ; and, sheltered as such places must be, yet will they collect abund- 

 ance of feathers and warm materials for their infants' bed. Endless exam, 

 pies might be found of the dissimilarity of requirements in these construe 

 lions among the several associates of oiu- groves, our hedges, and our 

 houses ; and yet the supposition cannot be entertained for a moment that 

 they are superfluous, or not essential for some purpose with which we 

 are unacquainted. By how many of the ordinations of Supreme Intelligence 

 our io-norance made manifest? Even the fabrication of the nests ot 

 these little animals exceeds our comprehension — we know none of the 

 causes or motives of that unembodicd nvind that willed them thus. — Journal 

 of a Naturalist. 



