258 INSECTIVOILE. 



which subsist merely on vegetable food. The greater num- 

 ber of them breed more than once in the course of the year. 



Though these are not the only birds that feed upon insects 

 and their larvae, they are the principal ones that pick them 

 from vegetables when they are in active growth ; and there- 

 fore they are among the principal conservators of those woods 

 and groves which are rendered lively by their presence, and 

 cheerful with the melody of their songs. Two species, as 

 has been noticed, visit us only in the winter, and ten reside 

 permanently in the country ; but still, so great a proportion, 

 both in species and in absolute numbers, come in the spring 

 and depart in the autumn, that the whole may be considered 

 as being pre-eminently our summer birds, and as forming no 

 unimportant feature of that season of beauty and activity. 



They resort to different localities : some to the open wild 

 or the brake-clad common, and others to the margin of the 

 lake or the bank of the stream ; but the majority frequent 

 only the ruder parts of the country, dwell chiefly in the 

 groves, and pour forth their notes while perched on the sprays. 

 Some disperse themselves over the whole island ; but there 

 are others which confine themselves to the warmer localities; 

 and, indeed, they may be generally said to be birds of the 

 rich parts of the country, and, as such, to increase with the 

 increase of cultivation and planting. In summer, one meets 

 them at every step ; and though the species varies with the 

 place, and the occupation with the time of the day and the 

 state of the weather, yet the place is sadly barren, or the time 

 intensely dry, if we do not meet with or hear these interest- 

 ing and active creatures. In spring, their appearance, on the 

 whole, keeps pace with the season ; for the weather generally 

 changes first in those places that are southward ; and the birds 

 are driven by the state of things in the places which they 

 desert, and not drawn by that of the places to which they 



