ORDER PASSERES. 89 



sparrow, seems to want confirmation. That this intruder will 

 sometimes get possession of their nest, seems ascertained ; 

 but the possibility of any number of swallows keeping the 

 sparrow in while they compound, agglutinate, and harden a 

 sufficient barricado against his escape, may be well doubted. 

 Montbeillard has observed, that in such cases, the swallows 

 will associate and threaten, if not attack, the intruder ; but 

 he seems to think, that the sparrow is left eventually in peace- 

 able possession of his usurped domicile, which, according to 

 that naturalist, even if abandoned by the sparrow, would be 

 spoiled by his temporary occupation, for the uses of its origi- 

 nal builder. 



The swallows, properly speaking, are divided into many 

 sections in the " Regne Animal," all of them having the toes 

 and the sternum disposed as in the passerine birds in general ; 

 but in some, the thumb is nearly capable of being turned in 

 front, and these have the feet feathered down to the toes, 

 and the tail forked. Others have the toes naked, and the 

 forks of the tail very long. Some have the tail nearly square, 

 &c. ; but we shall proceed to the habits, Sec, of some of the 

 species, by which the general character of the whole genus 

 may be estimated. 



The Marten (Hirundo urbica, Lin.J, says Daubenton, is 

 domestic by instinct, seeking the society of man in spite of all 

 its inconveniences, in preference to all others. This opinion, 

 maintained also by Montbeillard, and on which many senti- 

 mental reflections have been expressed, is opposed by Spal- 

 lanzani, who would refer the nidification of these birds in our 

 chimneys and window corners, more to the convenience 

 afforded by this angle to the bird for the purpose, than to any 

 predilection for human society. The dog, and some other 

 quadrupeds, teach us, certainly, that they are capable of 

 sentiment and preference ; but there are many circumstances 

 of parity in the existence of man and the quadrupeds, which 

 are not to be found in creatures of two distinct classes. Nor 



