386 



APPENDIX. VIL 



Titmice. 



Swallows, 

 AND Goat- 

 sucker, 



observed several Wheal-ear^s in the isle of Pw- 

 beck, on the 1 8th of November. As these birds 

 are incapable of very distant flights, we suspect 

 that Spam, or the south of France^ is their win- 

 ter asylum. 



Never quit this country ; they feed on insects 

 and their larvcB. 



Every species disappears at the approach of 

 winter. 



WATER BIRDS. 



Of the vast variety of w^ater fowl that fre- 

 quent Great Britain^ it is amazing to reflect how 

 few are known to breed here: the cause which 

 principally urges them to leave this country, 

 seems to be not merely the want of food, but 

 the desire of a secure retreat. Our country is 

 too populous for birds so shy and timid as the 

 bulk of these are : when a great part of our island 

 was a mere waste, a tract of woods and fen ; 

 doubtless many species of birds (which at this 

 time migrate) remained in security throughout 

 the year. Egrets, a species of Heron, now 

 scarcely known in this island, were in former 

 times in prodigious plenty; and the Crane, that 

 has totally forsaken this country, bred fami- 

 liarly in our marshes : their place of incubation, 

 as well as of all other cloven footed water birds 



