O F N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y, 409. 



the air than their prey, that they may have an opportunity of dart- 

 ing forcibly down upon it with their pounces. To countera£t thefe 

 artifices, Nature has endowed the fmaller and more innocent fpecies 

 of birds with many arts of defence. When a hawk appears, the 

 fmall birds, if they find it convenient, conceal themfelves in hedges 

 or brufli-wood. When deprived of this opportunity, they often, in 

 great numbers, feem to follow the hawk, and to expofe themfelves 

 unneceflarily to danger, while, in fadt, by their numbers, their per- 

 petual changes of dirediion, and their uniform endeavours to rife 

 above him, they perplex the hawk to fuch a degree, that he is un- 

 able to fix upon a fingle objed ; and, after exerting all his art and' 

 addrefs, he is frequently obliged to relinquifh thepurfuit. When in 

 the extremity of danger, and after employing every other artifice in 

 vain, fmall birds have been often known to fly to men for protec- 

 tion. This is a plain indication that thefe animals, though they in. 

 general avoid the human race, are by no means fo much, afraid of 

 man as of rapacious birds. 



The ravens often frequent the fea-fhores in queft of food. AVhen 

 they find their inability to break the fhells of mufcles, &c. to accom- 

 plifti this purpofe they ufe a very ingenious llratagem : They carry 

 z mufcle, or other fhell-fifli, high up in the air, and then dafh it 

 down upon a rock, by which means the fhell is broken, and they 

 obtain the end they had in view„ 



The wood-pecker is furniftied with a very long and voluble 

 tongue. It feeds upon ants and other fmall infeds. Nature has en- 

 dowed this bird with a fingular inftind. It knows how to procure 

 food without feeing its prey. It attaches itfelf to the trunks or 

 branches of decayed trees ; and, wherever it perceives a hole or cre- 

 vice, it darts in its long tongue, and brings it out loaded with infeds 

 of different kinds. This operation is certainly inftindive; but the 



3 F t Inftind 



h 



