330 
OBSERVATIONS ON 
cate plate of greens^ culled and provided in this extraordi- 
nary manner. 
Hence we may see that granivorous birds, when grain 
fails, can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. There is 
reason to suppose that they would not long be healthy 
without; for turkeys, though corn-fed, delight in a variety 
of plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c., and poultry 
pick much grass ; while geese live for months together on 
commons by grazing alone/ 
" Nought is useless made : 
On the barren heath 
The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop 
Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf 
Sufficient : after them the cackling goose, 
Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want." 
Philips's Cider. 
HEN HARRIER. 
Me. White, of Kewton, sprung a pheasant in a wheat 
stubble, and shot at it ; when, notwithstanding the report 
of the gun, it was immediately pursued by the blue hawk,, 
known by the name of the hen harrier, but escaped into 
some covert. He then sprung a second, and third, in the 
same field, that got away in the same manner ; the hawk 
hovering round him all the while that he was beating the 
field, conscious no doubt of the game that lurked in the 
stubble. Hence we may conclude that this bird of prey 
was rendered very bold and daring by hunger, and that 
hawks cannot always seize their game when they please. 
We may further observe, that they cannot pounce their 
^ That many granivorous birds feed also on the herbage or leaves of 
plants, there can be no doubt : partridges and larks frequently feed on 
the green leaves of turnips, which gives a peculiar flavour to their flesh, 
that is, to me, very palatable : the flavour also of wild ducks and geese 
greatly depends on the nature of their food ; and their flesh frequently 
contracts a rank unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong 
marshy a(|uatic plants, as I suppose. 
That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive to the 
health of birds, seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and 
turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small. — Markwick. 
