ON THE SMALL BIRDS OF FLIGHT. 
sing well; they sell the dead birds for three- 
pence or four-pence a dozen. 
These small birds are so good, that we are 
surprised the luxury of the age neglects so de- 
licate an acquisition to the table. ‘The modern 
Italians are fond of small birds, which they eat 
under the common name of Beccaficos: and the 
dear rate a Roman tragedian paid for one dish 
of singing birds* is well known. | 
Another particular we learned, in conversa- 
tion with a “London bird-catcher, was the vast 
price that is sometimes given for a single song 
bird, which had not learned to whistle tunes. 
The greatest sum we heard of, was five guineas 
for a chaffinch, that had a particular and un- 
common note, under which it was intended to 
train others: and we also heard of five pounds 
ten shillings being given for a call-bird linnet. 
A third singular circumstance, which confirms 
an observation of Linneéus, is, that the male 
chaffinches fly by themselves, and in the flight 
precede the females; but this is not peculiar to 
the chaffinches. When the titlarks are caught 
+ Maximé tamen insignis est in hac memoria, Clodii Asopi 
tragici histrionis patina sexcentis H. S. taxata; in quo posuit 
aves cantu aliqguo, aut humano sermone, vocales. Plin. lib. x. 
c.51. ‘The price of this expensive dish was about 6,843/. 10s. 
according to Arbuthnot’s Tables. This seems to have been a 
wanton caprice, rather than a tribute to epicurism. TT. P. 
¥. 2 
