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ORNITHOLOGICAL CRITICISMS. 
Sir John Byerley has given an account of the antipathy of a male black 
Swan and a female white Swan which had been placed together. Mr. James 
Fennell adds another instance of a similar kind ; and as I have in the Regent’s 
Park frequently seen the black Swans hunted about and fairly driven away by 
their fair neighbours while feeding, it is probable that such enmity would always 
exist. I have also noticed, in the same park, that the parent Swans will chase 
away and entirely disown their offspring after a certain age, and long before they 
have attained the adult plumage. Many other birds will do the same ; and, with 
apparent inconsistency, the adults will fly at any person who attempts to capture 
these very disowned youngsters. They seem, therefore, to desire to get rid of the 
company of the young brood—thus causing them to take care of themselves—with¬ 
out endangering their safety. On the other hand, some species of the feathered 
tribe remain with their brood until these pair, the following Spring. In this 
catalogue I may name the Bullfinch, and other birds which are supposed to pair 
for life. Then, again, there are the gregarious species, or those which flock 
together indiscriminately. Sometimes, however, it will be found that the young 
birds live in flocks separate from the adults; or at certain seasons the males will 
separate from the females, as takes place among Greenfinches and Chaffinches. 
The scientific name of the latter is, accordingly, Fringilld ccelebs , or Bachelor 
Finch. 
Mr. Selby says, in his valuable work on British birds :—“ A person engaged 
in a field, not far from my residence, had his attention arrested by some objects 
on the ground, which, upon approaching, he found to be two Partridges, a male 
and female, engaged in battle with a Carrion Crow; so successful and so absorbed 
were they in the issue of the combat, that they actually held the Crow till it was 
seized, and taken from them by the spectator of the scene. Upon search,' the 
young birds (very lately hatched) were found concealed among the Grass. It 
would appear, therefore, that the Crow, a mortal enemy to all kinds of young 
game, in attempting to carry off one of these, had been attacked by the parent 
birds, and with the above singular success.” 
Instances have also been known of the domestic cock keeping the Sparrow 
Hawk a close prisoner under its talons, when the accipitrine plunderer was on 
the point of seizing a chicken ; and if the farmer be in the way, the bold 
depredator quickly receives the extreme penalty of the agricultural law for all 
such heinous offences. I have likewise heard of a bantam hen which was saved 
from the talons of a Sparrow Hawk by the timely interference of a Turkey-cock; 
this is the more remarkable, as the latter bird is generally apt to take to its heels 
when any real danger is to be apprehended. 
Now that I am on the subject of the accipitrine order, I may take notice of 
the statement of Robert Mu die, to the effect that the members of this division 
