xlii 
INTRODUCTION^ 
c 
comfortable to its young: and the House Sparrow, in the hot months of 
summer, frequently deserts its cup-shaped fiibric, in its favorite hole, to build 
one on a tree with a canopy, like the IMagpie and the Wren. These are 
familiar examples, and every one may recognize them. They may be sup- 
ported by instances obtained without much trouble or pain in the research. 
Between the tropics, birds in general are more careless in the construction 
of their habitations than in colder climes ; but they exert greater ingenuity 
to secure them from their enemies. In our country, the water fowl con- 
tent themselves with an ill-formed nest; but in the bleak, cold regions of 
the north, many of their species use every precaution in their power in the 
formation of their abodes, to counteract the effect of the chilling atmos- 
phere : still is it true that, in general, each species preserves a peculiar 
architecture ; but which, as we before observed, is often modified and varied 
by individuals, to suit particular purposes, and different climes. The same 
bird, which in the forests of Senegal would be satisfied with a light, 
cool apartment for its young, would require, on the northern confines of 
Tartary, a nest more warm, more skilful, and more commodious.’'^ The 
Duck, that, even in England, incubates in a loosely-constructed nest, 
slovenly composed of a few dry rushes mingled with a few feathers, would, 
in Kamschatka, or in Lapland, tear the plumage from its own breast to line 
the habitation intended for its progeny. The buildings of birds may be 
correctly divided into, nests ivith, or ivithout, a canopy. Those that build 
their nests in trees, and hedges, ivithout a canopy, rarely lay more than six 
eggs; while those that erect a canopy, with a small aperture, for ingress 
And even the Magpie itself I have known to erect its nest, without its usual canopy. 
There appears, even in the nests of birds, a regular gradation, from the unimproved spot on 
which the Goatsucker deposits her eggs, to the artless fabric of the W ood-pigeon; and from that to 
the elegant structure of the Chaffinch. The Pigeon, as we have before observed, lays but two 
eggs, and its nest is a clumsy contrivance. The Jay, that lays three or four, passes, in its building, 
only a step beyond it. The little birds, which in common deposit five or six eggs, approach nearer 
to perfection. The Willow Wren, the Pettycbaps, and the Magpie, which lay seven or eight, 
cover their apartments, but neither so neatly, nor so warmly as the Wren. 
