B© 



A LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND INSTRUCTIVE FAMILY PAPER. 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on "Natural History;" "British Song 



Birds;" "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Reason;" 



" The Aviary and its Occupants," &c. 



"the OBJECT of our work is to make men WISER, WITHOUT obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."— EVELYN. 



No. 16.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, APRIL 17. 



Price \\d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Id 



NATURAL HISTORY OF SONG BIRDS. 



No II.-NESTLING AND INCUBATION. 



(Continued frontpage 83.) 



The nidification of birds has been de- 

 servedly the subject of much admiration. 

 Among the different orders there is to be 

 found almost every variety in the situation, 

 structure, and materials of which the nests 

 are composed. Such, however, is the uni- 

 formity with which instinct proceeds, that 

 the same species, in all countries, build their 

 nests not only of the same shape, but, as 

 far as possible, with the same materials. In 

 the red-breast, and some other birds, where 

 a small variation in their mode of architec- 

 ture has been perceived, it has always been 

 found to be the result of necessity. Where 

 oak leaves are found in plenty, the former 

 prefers them ; if not, he supplies the want 

 by moss and hair. In general the structure 

 of the nest is adapted to the number of eggs, 

 the temperature of the climate, and the heat 

 of the animal's body which is to occupy it. 



When the bird is of small size, and its eggs 

 are numerous, the nest must be proportion- 

 ably warm, that they may all equally par- 

 take of the vivifying heat. Hence the wren, 

 and many of the smaller birds, construct 

 their little edifices with great care, and with 

 very warm materials ; whereas the plover 

 and the eagle, whose eggs are so few that 

 the body may easily be applied to them, 

 build with no solicitude ; some, in these cir- 

 cumstances, leave them upon the naked 

 rocks. The climate has also its influence 

 on the nestling of birds : many of those 

 water fowl that with us construct their nests 

 in a careless manner, discover greater solici- 

 tude in the colder climes of the north, where 

 they strip the down off their breasts, to line 

 their nests, and protect their progeny. The 

 instinct and industry of birds are in nothing 

 more apparent than in the building of their 

 nests. How regular and admirable are these 



little edifices, formed of such different ma- 

 terials ; collected and arranged with such 

 judgment and labor, and constructed with 

 such elegance and neatness, without any 

 other tools than a beak and two feet I We 

 say with Hurdis, — 



It wins our admiration 

 To view the structure of that little work, 

 A bird's nest. Mark it well within, without, 

 No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut. 

 No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, 

 No glue to join: his little beak was all, — 

 And yet how neatly finished! What nice hand, 

 With every implement and means of art, 

 And twenty years' apprenticeship to boot, 

 Could make us such another? Fondly then 

 We boast of excellence, whole noblest skill 

 Instinctive genius foils. 



The situation of the nests of birds seems 

 to depend greatly upon their habits of life, 

 the vicinity of food, and their security from 

 the invasion of their enemies. Some build 

 upon the ground, as the gallinaceous tribes 

 and water-fowl ; others build under the 

 ground, as the sand-martin and puffin ; 

 which last becomes the tenant of a rabbit's 

 hole. By far the greater number build in 

 bushes, or on rocks ; but a few species, like 

 the water-hen, perform incubation on the 

 surface of the water, their nests being at- 

 tached to a few reeds. The larger rapacious 

 birds, Avho live in perpetual hostility with 

 all nature around them, repair, at the breed- 

 ing season, to the inaccessible rocks and 

 precipices, where they have least to fear 

 from man, and those numerous tribes of 

 animals with whom they are constantly at 

 war. In the thick and luxurious woods of 

 the warmer climates, where birds have little 

 to fear but from the serpent or the monkey 

 tribes, some, especially of the gross-beak 

 tribes, build their nests pendulous from the 

 extremity of the branch of a tree. There, 

 where man is seldom their aggressor, they 

 take no pains to conceal them from the eye ; 

 their construction is beautiful, and their 

 entrance curiously contrived below, to secure 



Vol. I, —New Series. 



