STARLINGS. 
217 
possessed but of one wing to bear them in tbeir upward flight. 
In the fens of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, where reeds 
are of considerable value for various purposes, the mischief 
they occasion is often very considerable, by beating down and 
breaking them, as many as can find a grasping hold clinging 
to the same slender stem, which, of course, bends and plunges 
them in the water, from whence they rise to join some other 
neighbours, whose reed is still able to bear their weight. This 
perpetual jostling and breaking down is the probable cause of 
the incessant clatter, which continues for a considerable time ; 
indeed, till all have procured dry beds and a firm footing. 
It has been remarked, that the flights of these birds have 
of late years much diminished, a fact to which we can speak 
from our own experience, for the assemblages which we have 
just described as forming so interesting a feature in autumnal 
evening walks have long ago ceased ; and it is now a rare thing 
to see a passing flock of even fifty, where, in years gone by, 
they mustered in myriads. 
Their favourite dormitory of reeds, indeed, has dwindled 
gradually away, since the dam was raised, and the depth of 
water increased, which may partly account for the diminution ; 
but still reeds are left in sufficient abundance for the accom- 
modation of ten times the number that are ever assembled in 
the neighbourhood of which we speak. 
Under the head of Fringilla, or Finch, (which is our trans- 
lation of the Latin word,) are included, amongst Sparrows, 
Goldfinches, and Canaries, tribes of small birds, each ex- 
hibiting in its own domestic habits and arrangements, as 
much sound philosophy and wisdom in the management of 
their concerns, as the wisest of human kind. 
Some of these little birds, moreover, seem occasionally to 
have something like a reasoning, as well as an instinctive 
faculty. A gentleman had a Goldfinch which was chained to 
a perch, instead of being kept in a cage. Its food was put 
into a box, resembling a water fountain used for cages, and 
the little opening at which the bird was fed had a cover 
loaded with lead, to make it fall down. The bird raised this 
by pushing down a lever or handle with its bill, which raised 
