96 



HERBERT ON BIRDS. 



partial, reside only in the chalk districts ; but they may possibly thrive on a different 

 subsoil in the south of Europe, though I am very little disposed to believe it." — 

 p. 79, Note. 



We shall conclude with an excellent example of observation, well 

 worthy of being placed as a companion to our first extract : — 



" Gold -crested Wren. — The golden-crested wren, and the common brown wren, are 

 both very impatient of cold. In confinement, the least frost is immediately fatal to them. 

 In a wild state they keep themselves warm by constant active motion in the day, and 

 at night they secrete themselves in places where the frost cannot reach them ; but I 

 apprehend that numbers do perish in severe winters. I once caught half a dozen 

 golden wrens at the beginning of winter, and they lived extremely well upon egg and 

 meat, being exceedingly tame. At roosting- time, there was always a whimsical con- 

 flict amongst them for the inside places, as being the warmest, which ended of course 

 by the weakest going to the wall. The scene began with a low whistling call amongst 

 them to roost, and the two birds on the extreme right and left flew on the backs of 

 those in the centre, and squeezed themselves into the middle. A fresh couple from the 

 flanks immediately renewed the attack upon the centre, and the conflict continued till 

 the light began to fail them. A severe frost in February killed all but one of them in 

 one night, though in a furnished drawing-room. The survivor was preserved in a 

 little cage, by burying it every night under the sofa cushions , but having been one 

 sharp morning taken from under them before the room was sufficiently warmed by the 

 fire, though perfectly well when removed, it was dead in ten minutes. The nightin- 

 gale is not much more tender of cold than a canary bird. The golden-crowned wren 

 very much frequents spruce fir-trees and cedars, and hangs its nest under their branches : 

 it is also fond of the neighbourhood of furze bushes, under which it probably finds 

 warm refuge from the cold. The brown wren is very apt, in frosty weather, to roost 

 in cow-houses, where the cattle keep it warm*." — p. 132, Note. 



We have confined our review of Mr. Herbert's Notes to birds, as 

 these are the most copious portion of his contributions, and well enti- 

 tled to the attention of naturalists, from his having so minutely studied 

 the living birds instead of the usual practice of studying only museum 

 specimens, or, what is even worse, the prints taken from museum speci- 

 mens. Mr. Herbert, however, has not confined his observations of 

 nature exclusively to birds, and we could, if we had*here room, give 

 equally interesting and original remarks from his notes on quadrupeds, 

 on plants, and on meteorology. Were he so inclined, we have no doubt 

 that he could furnish from his portfolio a whole volume of similar notes. 



See a. paper on the Contrivances of Animals to secure Warmth. By J. Rennie, 

 Roy. Inst. Journal, May, 1831." 



