31 6 OBSER VA TIONS ON BIRDS. 



grain fails, can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. There 

 is reason to suppose that they would not long be healthy 

 without ; for turkeys, though corn fed, delight in a variety 

 of plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, endive, etc., and poultry 

 pick much grass ; while geese live for months together on 

 commons by grazing alone. 



" Nought ia 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's Cyder. 

 — White. 



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 

 give 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. — Mark WICK. 



HEN-HARRIER. 



A neighbouring gentleman sprung a pheasant 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 

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



