BIRDS. 



SOf) 



amongst ourselve? ; from tneir tenderness to their decrepit pa- 

 rents, which they take care to nourish, to cherish, and support 

 when flying, we are to learn lessons of filial piety; but particu- 

 larly front! their conduct in fighting with the pigmies of Ethiopia, 

 we are to receive our maxims in the art of war. In early times, 

 the history of Nature I'ell to the lot of poets only, and certainly 

 none could describe it so well ; but it is a part of their province 

 to embellish also ; and when this agreeable science was claimed 

 by a more sober class of people, they were obliged to take the 

 accounts of things as they found them ; and, in the present in- 

 stance, fable ran down blended with truth to posterity. 



In these accounts, therefore, there is some foundation of truth ; 

 yet much more has been added by fancy. The crane is certain- 

 ly a very social bird, and they are seldom seen alone. Tlicir 

 usual method of flying or sitting is in flocks of fifty or sixty to- 

 gether ; and while a jiart feed, the rest stand like sentinels upon 

 duty. The fable of their supporting their aged parents, may 

 have arisen from their strict connubial affection ; and as for their 

 fighting with the pigmies, it may not be improbable but that they 

 have boldly withstood the invasions of monkeys coming to rob 

 their nests ; for in this case, as the crane lives upon vegetables, 

 it is not probable that it would be the first aggressor. 



However this be, the crane is a wandering, sociable bird, that, 

 for the most part, subsists upon vegetables ; and is known in 

 every country of Europe, except our ov.-n. There is no part of 

 the world, says Etllonius, where the fields are cultivated, that 

 the crane does <iot come in with the husbandman for a share in 

 the harvest. As they are birds of passage, they are seen to de 

 part, and return regularly at those seasons when their provision 

 invites or repels them. They generally leave Europe about the 

 latter end of autunni, and retiu'n in the beginning of summer. 

 In the inland parts of the continent, they are seen crossing the 

 country in flocks of fifty or a hundred, making from the northern 

 regions towards the south. In these migrations, however, they 

 are not so resolutely bent upon going forward, but that if a field 

 of corn offers in their way, they will stop awhile to regale upon 

 it : on such occasions they do incredible damage, chiefly in the 

 night ; and the husbandman, who lies down in joyful expecta- 

 tion, rises in the morning to see his fields laid entirely waste by 

 an enemy, whose march is too swift for his vengeance to overtake. 



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