ORDER PASSERES. 9 



Our business, here, however, is not with classification or 

 specific description ; we shall, therefore, confine ourselves to 

 the notice of the more distinguished species in whose natural 

 history there is any thing remarkable or interesting to 

 record. 



We shall begin with that well known bird, the Red-breast 

 (Sylvia rubecula). 



It is found all over Europe, from Spain and Italy, to 

 Sweden. It inhabits this country at all seasons, but seems 

 more numerous in winter, as it then approaches the habita- 

 tions of man. In France, the red-breasts are more numerous 

 in Lorraine and Burgundy than elsewhere. They are very 

 much sought after there, and their flesh acquires an exquisite 

 fat, which renders it a very delicate meat, and which is 

 doubtless owing to the abundance of fruits and tender berries, 

 which constitute the principal nutriment of all the insec- 

 tivorous birds in autumn. It is not so in the other provinces, 

 and accordingly its flesh is little esteemed there. Of the 

 birds of this species some do not quit their native country, 

 while others, and those constitute the greatest number, 

 prepare for their departure at the epoch when the red colour 

 commences to appear in the breast of the young, whose 

 plumage, during the moulting, presents an agreeable variety, 

 from the mixture of the tints of infancy, and the colours of 

 more advanced age. 



In all seasons the red-breast preserves its solitary character. 

 It voyages alone, while on such occasions almost all other 

 birds seek the society of their species, and unite in flocks 

 more or less numerous. In fine weather, the most shady 

 woods and groves, and humid places, constitute its favourite 

 sojourn. They seem to possess so much attraction for it, 

 that it appears to quit them with regret when the frost 

 destroys its sources of subsistence. It is only then that it 

 approaches habitations, and remains in hedges, gardens, and 

 orchards, and enlivens such places, when all other birds are 



