iiiuus. 227 



But this is not the only merit of this tribe : in it wo have the 

 sweetest songsters of the grove ; their notes arc softer, and their 

 manner more musicully soothing, than those of hard-billed birds. 

 The foremost in musical fame are the nightingale, the thrush, 



iiigomiity in coniinonly attaching their nests hcneath that of the rook, high 

 ill the elm, a bird wliose liabits aix- perfectly dissimilar, and with which 

 they have no association whatever, making use of their structure only for a 

 defence to which no other bird resorts, manifest their anxiety and contrivance 

 for the safety of tlieir broods. With peculiar perseverance and boldness, 

 they forag-e and provide for themselves and their offspring ; will tilch grain 

 from the trough of the pig, or contend for its food with the gigantic turkey ; 

 and, if sciired away, their fears arc? those of a moment, as they quickly re- 

 turn to their plunder j and they roost protected from all the injuries of 

 weather. These circumstances tend greatly to increase the race, and in some 

 seasons their numbers in our corn-fields towai-ds autumn are prodigious ; 

 and did not events counteract the increase of this army of plunderers, the 

 larger portion of our bread-corn would be consumed by tliem. But their 

 reduction is as rapidly accomplished as their increase, their love of associa- 

 tion bringing upon them a destruction, which a contrary habit would not 

 tempt. They roost in troops in our ricks, in the ivy on the wall, &c., and 

 are captured by the net : they duster on the bush, or crowd on the chaff by 

 the barn door, and are shot by dozens at a time, or will rush in numbers, 

 one following another, into the trap. These and various other engines of 

 destruction so reduce them in the winter season, that the swarms of autumn 

 gradually diminish, till their numbers in spring are in no way remarkable. 

 1 have called them plunderers, and they are so ; they are benefactors like. 

 wise, seeming to be appointed by Nature as one of the agents for keeping 

 from undue increase another race of creatures, and by their prolificacy they 

 accomplish it. In spring and the early part of the summer, before the com be. 

 comes ripe, they are insectivorous, and their constantly-increasing families 

 require an unceasing supply of food. We see them every minute of the day 

 in continual progress, flying from the nest for a supply, and returning on 

 rapid wing with a grub, a caterpillar, or some reptile ; and the numbers 

 raptured by them in the course of these travels are incredibly numerous, 

 keeping under the increase of these races, and making ample restitution for 

 their plunderings and thefts. When the insect race becomes scarce, the 

 corn and seeds of various kinds are ready ; their appetite changes, and they 

 feed on these with undiminished enjoyment. 



We have scarcely another bird, the appetite of which is so accommodating 

 in all respects as that of the house sparrow. It is, I believe, the only bin', 

 that is a voluntary inhabitant with man— lives in his society, and is his con. 

 stant attendant, following him wherever he fixes his residence. It becomes 

 immediately an inhabitant of the new farm-house, in a lonely place or recent 

 inclosurc, or even in an island ; will accompany him into the crowded city, 

 and build and feed there in content, unmindful of the noise, the smoke cf 

 the furnace, or the steam-engine, where even the swallow and the nuirtin, 

 that flock around him in the country, are scared by the tumult, and leave 

 liim : but the sparrow, though begrimed with soot, does not forsake him ; 

 feeds on his food, rice, potatoes, or almost any oUier e.\traaeous substanco 



