183 



ON THE 



(Dcctmtncc of some of % Jam Ifytoes of 

 §itbs iu % yeig|tow|oo^ of ^aMutg. 



By the Eev. Arthur P. Morres, Vicar of Britford. 

 (Continued from Vol. xvii., page 127. J 



PART II.— INSESSORES. 



continuing" my papers on the ornithology of this district, 

 I feel that I have undertaken a much harder task than I at 

 first anticipated. Directly you turn your back upon the Raptores, 

 which (like some overbearing loud-voiced bullies of another biped 

 race,) force themselves upon your notice whether you will or no, and 

 endeavour to trace out the habits of the more modest and retiring 

 species of the feathered race, which love to live unnoticed and un- 

 known, you feel that Nature will not allow you to enter her Pene- 

 tralia, unless you make her laws not simply a recreation, but a serious 

 and persevering study. She demands from you both careful attention 

 and ungrudging labour, would you be able to unravel her mysteries ; 

 and how much there is yet to learn, even in the well-beaten track 

 of British ornithology, the new species which constantly have to be 

 added to our lists sufficiently testify. And may there not be some 

 other species even yet undiscovered, which occasionally wander to these 

 our shores, renowned for hospitality to all refugees of whatever race, 

 saving to those who come clothed in feathers of an unknown hue, 

 but which latter receive, if scant courtesy, yet so much attention, 

 that they are literally killed by it, and are forthwith perpetuated, 

 without their consent, in the public and private collections of our 

 numerous ornithological friends. Yes ! we live and learn, and it is 

 most pleasant to find that under our very eyes, and in our own 

 parishes, where we are sometimes tempted to think there is such 



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