OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 295 



turkeys, though corn-fed, delight in a variety of plants, such 

 as cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c. and poultry pick much grass ; 

 while geese live for months together on commons by grazing 

 alone. 



Nought is useless made : 



On the barren heath 

 The shepherd tends his flock, that daily crop 

 Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf 

 Sufficient : after them, the cackling goose, 

 Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want. 



PHILIPS' Cyder.* 



HEN-HARRIER. A neighbouring gentleman sprung a phea- 

 sant in a wheat stubble, and shot at it ; when, notwithstanding 

 the report of the gun, it was immediately pursued by the blue 

 hawk, known by the name of the hen-harrier, but escaped into 

 some covert. He then sprung a second, and a third, in the 

 same field, that got away in the same manner ; the hawk hover- 

 ing round him all the while that he was beating the field, 

 conscious, no doubt, of the game that lurked in the stubble. 

 Hence we may conclude, that this bird of prey was rendered 

 very daring and bold by hunger, and that hawks cannot always 

 seize their game when they please. We may farther observe, 

 that they cannot pounce their quarry on the ground, where it 

 might be able to make a stout resistance, since so large a fowl 

 as a pheasant could not but be visible to the piercing eye of a 

 hawk, when hovering over the field. Hence that propensity 

 of cowring and squatting, till they are almost trod on, which, 

 no doubt, was intended as a mode of security : though long 

 rendered destructive to the whole race of gallince by the inven- 

 tion of nets and guns.-|- 



* That many graminivorous birds feed also on the herbage, or leaves of 

 plants, there can be no doubt : partridges and larks frequently feed on the 

 green leaves of turnips, which gives a peculiar flavour to their flesh, that 

 is, to me, very palatable : the flavour, also, of wild ducks and geese, greatly 

 depends on the nature of their food ; and their flesh frequently contracts a 

 rank, unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong marshy 

 aquatic plants, as I suppose. 



That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome, and conducive to the 

 health of birds, seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and 

 turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small. MARKWICK. 



f Of the great boldness and rapacity of birds of prey, when urged on 

 by hunger, I have seen several instances ; particularly, when shooting in 

 the winter, in company with two friends, a woodcock flew across us, 



