its usual composition, dry grass; the same circumstance 

 having occurred several years in succession. 



With regard to the situation of their nests, birds seem to be 

 left much more at the disposal of their own choice, and adapt 

 them with surprising skill, to places apparently most unsuit- 

 able. Some species, leaving their natural mode of life, and 

 their own wild haunts, have adapted their habits to our own, 

 and being to a certain extent domesticated, have become our 

 confiding friends and delightful companions. For us the 

 Swift, the Martin, and the Swallow, once the inhabitants of 

 the inland rocks and lonely sea cliffs of our coast, are now 

 the voluntary inmates of our dwellings, cheering us with their 

 cheerful notes and elegant motions. The shy Hawk, the wily 

 Eaven, and the midnight Owl, leaving their native woods, 

 have built their nests in the towers and steeples of our towns 

 and cities. The Magpies too, which with us are so suspicious 

 of wrong, build their nests under the eaves of the Norwegian 

 cottages. Numerous instances might be given, in which birds 

 have chosen the most strange and singular situations for their 

 nests, adapting them as though reason was their guide. The 

 most remarkable on record is that of the Rooks, which, for 

 ten successive years, built their nest upon the vane at the top 

 of the Newcastle Exchange, revolving with every change of 

 wind. The House Sparrow, the nest of which, when built in 

 trees, is large and carefully arched over, dispenses with the 

 labour of constructing its own roof, by placing it under the 

 eaves of our dwellings. 



I am unwilling to close the present work, and to take leave 

 of my subscribers generally, without expressing my thanks for 



