Zoology, ^ 14^5 



to nibble; a leaf of lettuce, a peeling of turnip, the skin of the apricot, give 

 a luxury : and the Industry is indefatigable with which this animal detects 

 and appropriates substances so minute and uninviting, as would be unseen 

 and neglected by ordinary sheep : perhaps the dog of the cottager is not so 

 completely domesticated as it is. I have been minutely tedious upon their 

 acquired habits of feeding, as introductory to the conclusion that there 

 exists not a cottager in Britain who might not keep three of these sheep 

 with more ease than he now keeps a cur dog ; nor a little farmer, who might 

 not maintain a flock of fifteen or twenty without appropriating half an acre 

 exclusively to their use : they would derive support from that produce which 

 now either totally runs to waste, or goes to the dunghill. I have procured 

 some of the sheep, and mean to increase the stock to two hundred, leaving 

 them under the care of a respectable lama for two years, at the end of 

 which period my journey will have been completed. Should I fall, an event 

 by no means impossible, government will receive them as a legacy, without 

 expense, under the hope that some of the individuals will be sent to Bri- 

 tain ; and in the sure expectation that the progeny will be distributed to 

 cottagers and small farmers in poor and dry countries." 



I leave you to estimate the national advantages derivable from two or 

 three millions of extra animals, supported upon produce now really waste ; 

 provided their present frugal habits of feeding be maintained, and their pre- 

 sent constitution not injured by delicate treatment. I am. Sir, yours, &c. 

 — John Robertson. Kilkenny y November ^ 1829. 



A Stoat pursuing a Water Rat through a Pond. — A singular circumstance 

 was observed, a few days since, by a friend of mine. A stoat was in hot 

 pursuit of a water rat, which latter took to the water, where he, doubtless, 

 expected to be safe : the stoat, however, followed his prey across the nar- 

 row pond ; but lost it, at last, from the rat getting into a hole. — J. L. Lis- 

 keard Vicarage, Cornwall, Aug. 15. 1829. 



The Songs of Birds innate or acquired ? — Some naturalists have not scrupled to declare that 

 the song of birds is not innate, but acquired. Mr. Bingley has adopted this theory in his Animal 

 Biography; and I am the more sorry for it, because I conceive that he has made an erroneous 

 statement, which can never appear so much misplaced as in an elementary and popular work. I 

 am led to this notice,by the recorded attempt of Sir John Sinclair to establish a colony of nightin- 

 gales, through the fostering care of redbreasts. It is evident that the worthy baronet is not an 

 advocate for the doctrine of acquirement ; and I must place myself on his side, notwithstanding 

 the assurance of Mr. Bingley that it is a doctrine verified by accurate observations, and founded 

 on numerous experiments. It is contrary to my limited experience, and I think at variance with 

 analogy and reason. Every quadruped, as far as we know, has some call or cry peculiar to its 

 species : but I never heard it asserted that that call or cry was any thing more or less than a 

 particular assignment of nature; and why should it be deemed incredible that the notes of the 

 feathered tribe should be a similar endowment ? It seems to me that it must be so ; it does 

 not appear that the opportunity of acquirement is afforded them. The male bird confines his 

 song chiefly to the period of incubation. During that period he, like a true lover, cheers his 

 patient and sedentary mate, by the greatest exertion of his vocal powers ; butj when the callow 

 infants have burst from bondage, he suspends his melody, and, like a good father, assiduously 

 unites in nurturing his family. But, admitting that I err, and that young birds have the privi- 

 lege of listening to their parents' voice, how comes it to pass that each species, when the air is 

 resounding with the varied melody of Nature's whole choir, is able to select its own appropriate 

 song, and adhere to that and that alone ? Here a discriminatingpower is allotted to the feathered 

 race, in my estimation, even more miraculous than a natural impression, and thus in avoiding 

 Scylla, we fall into Charybdis. The language of man, according to some, is not innate. What 

 man would be in a detached and solitary condition, I am not anjuous to know ; but sure I am, 

 th^t the great Creator, when he made him a social animal, completed his work by providing him 

 with a language ; and I feel a strong conviction that the song of birds is an appropriation from 

 the same beneficent source. Man can vary and enlarge his language as circumstances and situa- 

 tion may require. He can even acquire new languages ; and here is nothing unnatural, but only 

 what we might expect. Some birds possess an imitative faculty which enables them to adopt new 

 calls or notes : but this is altogether unnatural; it occurs only when they are domiciliated and 

 taught by man. In the wildness of nature it is never so. According to my observation in that 

 state, the most imitative species are " true to their t^ong." Were it otherwise, we might hear 

 strange anomalies. The chattering stare might entrance us with Philomela's strains, or the 

 hoary-headed daw might, in midwinter, surprise us with " the welcome voice " of the harbinger 

 of spring. If these observations are erroneous, perhaps Mr. Sweet, or you. Sir, will give me better 

 information. 



" Si quid novisti rectius istis, 



Candidus imperti j si non, his utere mecum." 



J. S. Thurgarton, Norfolk, April 17. 1829. _ 



Use of the spurious Wing. — Griffith, in his Animal Kingdom, vol. vi. 



p. 104., mentions, that the use of the small stiff feathers, called the spurious 



wing (ala spuria), is not apparent. A young gentleman has suggested to 



Vol. III.— No. 12. l 



