BOOK V. 



OF BIRDS OF THE SPARROW KIND- 



CHAP. I. 



OV BIRDS OF THE SPARKOW 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 neigh- 

 bourhood 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 lite : but 

 these little painted songsters have his affections, as well from 

 their beauty as their melody; 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 scream- 

 ing; 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 its vicinity, and keep to 

 the thickest darkness of the forest, or the brow of the most 

 craggy precipice : but these seldom resort to the thicker })arts 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 aflfection on their part, as they approach inhabited 

 grounds merely because their chief provision is to be found 



