Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable flirt with 

 their wings in breeding-time ; as soon as frosty 

 mornings come they make a very piping plaintive 

 noise. 



Many birds which become silent about Midsum- 

 mer reassume their notes again in September ; as the 

 thrush, blackbird, woodlark, willow-wren, &c. ; hence 

 August is by much the most mute month, the spring, 

 summer, and autumn through. Are birds induced 

 to sing again because the temperament of autumn 

 resembles that of spring? 



Linnaeus ranges plants geographically : palms in- 

 habit the tropics, grasses the temperate zones, and 

 mosses and lichens the polar circles ; no doubt ani- 

 mals may be classed in the same manner with pro- 

 priety. 



House-sparrows build under eaves in the spring ; 

 as the weather becomes hotter they get out for 

 coolness, and nest in plum-trees and apple-trees. 

 These birds have been known sometimes to build 

 in rooks' nests, and sometimes in the forks of boughs 

 under rooks' nests. 



As my neighbour was housing a rick he observed 

 that his dogs devoured all the little red mice that 

 they could catch, but rejected the common mice; 

 and that his cats ate the common mice, refusing 

 the red. 



Redbreasts sing all through the spring, summer, 

 and autumn. The reason that they are called au- 



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