GOLDSMITH AS A NATURALIST. 383 



Goldsmith might have lived on his own earnings, but un- 

 doubtedly he was extravagant. Yet could not the friendly 

 Eeynolds, or the kind-hearted Johnson, have helped him through 

 the mire, or attempted to strengthen those weaknesses, which, 

 in so great and unfortunate a man, we should all be more or less 

 willing to overlook ? 



Turning again to ' Animated Nature,' let us see what Gold- 

 smith has to say of the pugnacity of the Puffin. As soon as a 

 Eaven approaches to carry off its young, the Puffin, making a 

 curious noise like a dumb person trying to speak, catches him 

 under the throat with its beak, and sticks its claws into its 

 breast, which "makes the Kaven try to get away." At length 

 both fall into the sea, the Eaven of course drowning, to leave the 

 Puffin to return unharmed to its nest. 



The Woodpecker feeds sometimes in the following way. It 

 lays its tongue on an ant-hill, and waits until there are a 

 sufficient number of ants collected on it (for they mistake the 

 long tongue for a worm), when the clever bird suddenly with- 

 draws "the worm" and the ants with it, thus reaping a rich 

 harvest ! 



One can conceive how this curious habit (?) originated, but 

 what the Butcher Bird may be, which is little bigger than a 

 Titmouse and lives in the marshes near London, I cannot 

 determine. 



Herons, he tells us, occasionally take their fish on the wing 

 by hovering as the Kingfisher does, but they do this only in the 

 shallows, because in the deeper parts the fish, as soon as they 

 see the Heron's shadow, could sink immediately and swim out 

 of harm's reach. The reader will notice many more such extra- 

 ordinary pieces of natural history to interest him, and not a few 

 to amuse him. 



The Turtle is lachrymose and forlorn, for it sighs and sheds 

 tears when turned over on its back. 



The Toad has only to sit at the bottom of a bush and to look 

 a little attractive, when the giddy butterflies "fly down" its 

 throat. A fascinating Toad ! 



Goldsmith found some difficulty in deciding into what class 

 he should put the Lizards. " They are excluded from the 

 insects," he argues, " by their size, for, though the Newt may be 



