OF SELBORNE. 175 



fury: even the blue thrush at the season of breeding would 

 dart out from the clefts of the rocks to chase away the 

 kestril, or the sparrow hawk. If you stand near the nest 

 of a bird that has young, she will not be induced to betray 

 them by an inadvertent fondness, but will wait about at a 

 distance with meat in her mouth for an hour together. 



Should I farther corroborate what I have advanced 

 above by some anecdotes which I probably may have men- 

 tioned before in conversation, yet you will, I trust, pardon 

 the repetition for the sake of the illustration. 



The flycatcher of the Zoology (the Stoparola of Eay) 

 builds every year in the vines that grow on the walls of my 

 house. A pair of these little birds had one year inad- 

 vertently placed their nest on a naked bough, perhaps in a 

 shady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that 

 followed. But a hot sunny season coming on before the 

 brood was half fledged, the reflection of the wall became 

 insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the 

 tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, 

 and prompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all 

 the hotter hours, while with wings expanded, and mouths 

 gaping for breath, they screened off the heat from their 

 suffering offspring. 



A farther instance I once saw of notable sagacity in a 

 willow wren, which had built in a bank in my fields. This 

 bird a friend and myself had observed as she sat in her 

 nest ; but were particularly careful not to disturb her, 

 though we saw she eyed us with some degree of jealousy. 

 Some days after, as we passed that way, we were desirous 

 of remarking how this brood went on ; but no nest could 

 be found, till I happened to take up a large bundle of long 

 green moss, as it were, carelessly thrown over the nest, in 

 order to dodge the eye of any impertinent intruder. 



A still more remarkable mixture of sagacity and instinct 

 occurred to me one day as my people were pulling off the 

 lining of a hotbed, in order to add some fresh dung. F^om 

 out of the side of this bed leaped an animal with great 

 agility that made a most grotesque figure; nor was it 

 without great difficulty that it could be taken; when it 



