The RED-LEGGED CROW.
• Le Crave ou Le Coracias ^*, Buff. , • Corvus-Graculus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Gracula Pyrrhocorax, Scop. , • Coracias, Aldrov. and Briſſ. , • Coracias, ſeu Pyrrhocorax, Ray. , • Cornix roſtro pedibuſque rubris ^†, Klein. , and • The Corniſh-Chough, Cornwall-Kae, or Killegrew, Alb. and Will. 

SOME authors have confounded this bird with the Alpine Crow; but the diſtinction is clearly marked. Its bill is longer, more ſlender, more hooked, and of a red colour; its tail is alſo ſhorter, its wings longer, and, as a natural conſequence, its flight is more lofty; and laſtly, its eyes are environed by a ſmall red circle.

It is true that the Red-legged Crow reſembles the Alpine Crow in the colour and in ſome com⯑mon [2] inſtincts. In both, the plumage is black with green reflections of blue and purple, which have an admirable effect on that dark ground. Both delight in the ſummits of the loftieſt mountains, and ſeldom deſcend into the plain. The former, however, is much more diffuſed than the latter.

The Red-legged Crow is of an elegant figure, lively, reſtleſs, turbulent, but can be tamed to a certain degree. At firſt it is fed with a ſort of paſte made with milk, bread, and grain, &c. and afterwards it is reconciled to whatever is ſerved for our tables.

Aldrovandus ſaw in Bologna in Italy, a bird of this ſort, which had an odd trick of breaking panes of glaſs from the outſide, as if to enter the houſe by the window: this inſtinct is un⯑doubtedly the ſame with that of the crows, the magpies, and daws, which are attracted by every thing that glitters. It has even been known to ſnatch from the chimney light pieces of wood, and thus ſet the houſe on fire; ſo that this dan⯑gerous bird adds the character of an incendiary to that of a domeſtic plunderer. But I ſhould imagine that this pernicious habit might be turned againſt itſelf, and, like the lark, it might be decoyed into ſnares, by means of mirrors.

Salerne ſaw at Paris two Red-legged Crows which lived peaceably with the houſe pigeons; but it is probable that he had not ſeen the Wild Crow of Geſner, nor the deſcription which that [3] author gives of it; ſince he ſays after Ray, that it agreed in every thing but in ſize with the coracias; whether he meant the bird to which this article is allotted, or the pyrrhocorax of Pliny. Theſe birds are widely different, and Geſner was careful not to confound them. He knew that the Wild Crow differs from the Red-legged Crow by its creſt, its carriage, the ſhape and length of its bill, the ſhortneſs of its tail, the excellence of its fleſh, at leaſt when young; that it was not ſo noiſy or ſo ſedentary, and that it changed its reſidence more regularly at certain times of the year^*; not to mention other differences.

The Red-legged Crow has ſhrill though a pretty loud cry, very like that of the Sea-pie. It chatters almoſt inceſſantly; and Olina remarks that it is bred not for its voice, but for its beau⯑tiful plumage^†. Belon, however, and the au⯑thors of the Britiſh Zoology ſay, that it learns to ſpeak.

The female lays four or five white eggs, ſpotted with dirty yellow. She builds her neſt on the tops of old deſerted towers, or on fright⯑ful [4] precipices; for, according to Edwards, theſe birds prefer the cliffs all along the weſt coaſt of England, to ſimilar ſituations on the flat ſhores of the eaſt and ſouth. I ſhall add ano⯑ther fact of the ſame kind, which I owe to a very reſpectable obſerver^*. It is, that though theſe birds be inhabitants of the Alps, of the mountains of Switzerland, and of thoſe of Au⯑vergne, &c. they are never found on the moun⯑tains of Bugey, nor in all the chain that ſtretches along the confines of the country of Gex as far as Geneva. Belon, who ſaw them on Mount Jura in Switzerland, again obſerved them in the iſlands of Crete, and always on the ſummits of rocks. But Haſſelquiſt affirms that theſe birds arrive in Egypt, and ſpread through the country after the inundation of the Nile has ſubſided and the waters are about to return into their bed. If we admit this fact, which however ſeems to be repugnant to the general nature of theſe birds, we muſt ſuppoſe that they are drawn to Egypt by the abundance of food with which the lands are replete, after being left by the waters to the powerful influence of a tropical ſun: and in fact, they feed on inſects, and on ſeeds which have been lately committed to the ſoil, and ſwell with milky juice, the effect of incipient vegetation. It follows then, that theſe birds do not confine their reſidence excluſively to rocks and the ſummits of mountains, ſince at [5] certain ſeaſons they regularly appear in Lower Egypt. Nor do they ſeem to be equally at⯑tached to every bleak eminence; but to be directed in their choice by certain peculiar cir⯑cumſtances, which have hitherto eſcaped ob⯑ſervers.

It is probable that the coracias of Ariſtotle^* is the ſame with the Red-legged Crow, and not the pyrrhocorax of Pliny^†, which ſeems to differ in ſize and in the colour of its bill, which is yellow. But the bird of which we here treat, has a red bill and red feet; and as it was ſeen by Belon on the Cretan mountains, it was more likely known to Ariſtotle, than the pyrrhocorax, which was ſuppoſed by the ancients to be confined to the Alps, and in fact was not ſeen by Belon in Greece.

I muſt admit, however, that Ariſtotle makes his coracias a ſpecies of daw ( [...]), as we re⯑gard the pyrrhocorax of Pliny; which would ſeem to favour the identity, or at leaſt the prox⯑imity of theſe two ſpecies. But as in the ſame chapter I find a palmipede bird joined with the daws as of the ſame genus, the philoſopher evidently confounds birds that are of a very different nature; or rather, ſince the text traces a regular analogy, the confuſion muſt have ariſen from ſome miſtakes of the copyiſts. Beſides, the word pyrrhocorax, though entirely of Greek [6] derivation^*, occurs not in any part of Ariſtotle's treatiſe; and Pliny, who was well acquainted with that work, could diſcover in it no account of the bird on which he beſtows that name; and in his deſcription of the pyrrhocorax, he does not copy what the Greek philoſopher had ſaid on the ſubject of the coracias.

The ſpecimen examined by the authors of the Britiſh Zoology weighed thirteen ounces, and its wings extended about two feet and a half: the tongue was almoſt as long as the bill, ſome⯑what hooked; the nails black, ſtrong, and hooked.

Gerini mentions a bird of this kind whoſe bill and feet were black, and which he conſi⯑ders as a variety of the Red-legged Crow, affected only by ſome accidental differences of colour, ariſing from the diſtinction of the age or ſex^†. ^A

The HERMIT CROW ^*.
• Le Coracias Huppé ou Le Sonneur ^†, Buff. , • Corvus-Eremita, Linn. and Gmel. , • Coracia Criſtata, Briſſ. , • Corvus Sylvaticus, Geſneri. Will. , • Upupa Montana, Klein. , • Geſner's Wood-Crow, Will. , and • Wood-Crow from Switzerland, Alb. 

THIS bird is of the ſize of a hen; its plumage is black, with fine green reflections, which are variegated nearly as in the Red-legged Crow: like it, the bill and feet are red; but the bill is ſtill longer and more ſlender, very proper for inſerting into the fiſſures of rocks and the cracks in the ground, into the holes of trees and walls, in ſearch of inſects and worms, which are its principal food. In its ſtomach are found portions of the mole-crickets. It eats alſo the larvoe of the May-bug, and is uſeful on ac⯑count of the havock which it makes among theſe deſtructive inſects.

The feathers on the top of its head are longer than the reſt, and form a kind of creſt, which [8] hangs backwards; but this only appears after they are full grown, and again diſappears when they are aged. Hence the reaſon that in ſome places they are called Bald Crows, and in ſome deſcriptions they are repreſented as having a yellow head marked with red ſpots. Theſe co⯑lours are probably the tints of the ſkin, which age leaves bare.

The creſt, which has given occaſion to the name of Mountain-creſted ^*, is not the only diſtinction between this bird and the Red-legged Crow; its neck is longer and more ſlender, its head ſmaller, its tail ſhorter, &c. Beſides, it is known only as a bird of paſſage, while the Red-legged Crow, as we have already ſeen, is migratory, but only in certain countries and in particular circumſtances. Geſner has therefore divided them properly into two ſpecies; and I have diſ⯑tinguiſhed them by different names.

The Hermit Crows fly very lofty, and gene⯑rally go in flocks^†. They ſeek their food often in the meadows and marſhy places, and always neſtle on the tops of old deſerted towers, or in the clefts of frightful inacceſſible rocks. Senſible, as it were, that their young are delicate meat, [9] and much valued by the luxurious, they are care⯑ful to breed them out of the reach of man. But there are ſtill ſome men hardy enough to riſk their lives for the moſt ſordid gain, and al⯑low themſelves to be let down by ropes from giddy heights, to plunder the infant brood in their receſſes, and reap the moſt dangerous of harveſts.

The females lay generally two or three eggs every hatch; and thoſe who wiſh to get the brood, commonly leave a young bird in each neſt, in order to invite them to return the fol⯑lowing year. When the young are plundered, the parents cry, ka, ka, kae, kae, but are ſeldom heard at any other time. The young are eaſily tamed, and the more ſo if they be taken early and before they can fly.

They arrive in the country of Zurich towards the beginning of April, at the ſame time with the ſtorks. Their neſts are ſought for about Whitſunday, and they depart, the earlieſt of all the birds, in the middle of June. I know not why Barrere has made the Hermit Crow a ſpe⯑cies of curlew.

The Hermit Crow inhabits the Alps, the lofty mountains of Italy, Stiria, Switzerland, Bavaria, and the high cliffs which border on the Danube, in the vicinity of Paſſau and Kelkeym. Theſe birds chooſe for their retreat certain natural breaſt-works, or cells of a good aſpect, among [10] the rocks, and hence the name Klauſs-rappen, or Monk-Raven. ^A

The RAVEN.
• Le Corbeau, Buff. , • Corvus-Corax, Linn and Gmel. , • Corvus, Briſſ. Klein, and Will. ^* , and • The Corbey, Sibb. Scotia Illuſtrata. 

THIS bird has always been famous; but its bad reputation has been owing, moſt probably, to its being confounded with other birds, and loaded with their ill qualities. It has ever been regarded as the loweſt of the rapacious tribe; the moſt cowardly and the moſt diſguſting. Filth and rotten carcaſes, it is ſaid, are its chief food; and when it gluts its appetite on live prey, its victims are the weak or uſeful animals, lambs, leverets^†, &c. yet it ſometimes attacks the large [12] animals with ſucceſs, ſupplying its want of ſtrength and agility by cunning; it plucks out the eyes of buffaloes^*, and then, fixing on the back, it tears off the fleſh deliberately: and what renders the ferocity more deteſtable, it is not incited by the cravings of hunger, but by the appetite for carnage; for it can ſubſiſt on fruits, ſeeds of all kinds, and indeed may be conſidered as on omnivorous animal^†.

This violence and indiſcriminating voracity of the Raven has procured it a various treat⯑ment: ſometimes it has been proſcribed as a pernicious, deſtructive animal; ſometimes it has been afforded the protection of law, as uſe⯑ful in extirpating noxious inſects. In poor, thinly inhabited ſtates, the Raven may prove a burthenſome and expenſive gueſt; but in [13] rich, populous countries, it will be ſervice⯑able by devouring the filth generated in them. For this reaſon it was formerly, ac⯑cording to Belon, forbidden in England^* to hurt this bird; but in the narrow iſlands of Fer⯑roe, Malta, &c. a premium was offered for its deſtruction^†.

If to the features which we have now traced of the Raven, we join its gloomy plumage; its cry, ſtill more gloomy, though very feeble; its ignoble port, in proportion to its bulk; its ſavage look; its body ſmelling perpetually of infection^‡; we ſhall not be ſurpriſed that in all ages it has been regarded as an object of averſion and horror. Its fleſh was forbidden [14] to the Jews; ſavages never eat it^*; and, among ourſelves, the moſt ſtarved wretches diſcover an extreme diſlike to it, and remove the coriaceous ſkin before they make their diſguſting meal. In every country it is reckoned an ominous bird, which announces impending calamities. Grave hiſtorians^† have deſcribed pitched battles be⯑tween armies of crows and thoſe of other rave⯑nous birds, and have regarded theſe combats as foreboding the bloody wars kindled among na⯑tions. And how many perſons, at preſent, are alarmed and dejected at the noiſe of its croaking! The whole of its knowledge of futurity is li⯑mited, however, like that of the other inhabit⯑ants of the air, to a greater ſenſibility to the changes in its element, and to the expreſſion of its feelings by certain cries and actions. In the ſouthern provinces of Sweden, Linnaeus tells us, that the Ravens, in fine weather, ſoar to an im⯑menſe height, and make a clangorous noiſe, that is heard at a great diſtance^§. The authors of the Britiſh Zoology add, that in this caſe they fly generally in pairs. Other writers^‖, in leſs enlightened times, have given other remarks, mingled with fable and ſuperſtition.

[15] In thoſe times, when augury formed a part of religion, the Ravens, though bad prophets, could not fail to be birds of vaſt importance. The fondneſs of prying into futurity, how diſmal ſoever may be the proſpect, is an ancient malady of the human race. All the various motions of the Raven were ſtudied with the moſt ſcrupulous attention, all the circumſtances of its flight, all the differences of its voice, of which, not to mention the minute diſcriminations too difficult to be appretiated^*, no leſs than ſixty-four diſtinct in⯑flexions were reckoned up. Each had its deter⯑mined ſignification; the artful applied themſelves to the profeſſion, and credulity drew multitudes to their oracles^†. Pliny himſelf, though ſuperior to the prejudices of the vulgar, was ſo far carried by the tide of popular opinion as to mention its moſt infauſtous cries^‡. Some even carried this folly to ſuch lengths as to eat the heart and en⯑trails of theſe birds, from the hope of acquiring the ſpirit of prophecy^§.

But the Raven has not only a great number of inflections of voice correſponding to its interior affections, it has alſo the talent of imitating the cry of other animals^‖, and even human diſcourſe; [16] and to improve this natural quality, the ligament of the tongue has been cut. Colas is the word which it pronounces the moſt eaſily^*; and Scali⯑ger heard one which, when hungry, called diſ⯑tinctly on the cook by the name of Conrad ^†. Theſe words bear indeed ſome reſemblance to the ordinary cry of the Raven.

Theſe ſpeaking birds were highly prized at Rome, and a philoſopher has not diſdained to relate the hiſtory of one of them^‡. They not only learn to prattle or repeat words, but become quite familiar. They can be tamed though old^§, and appear even ſuſceptible of a laſting and perſonal attachment^‖.

In conſequence of their pliancy of temper, they can be inſtructed, not indeed to diveſt them⯑ſelves [17] of their voracity, but to moderate it and direct it to the ſervice of man. Pliny ſpeaks of Craterus, an Aſiatic, who was noted for his ſkill in breeding Ravens to hunt, and who could make himſelf be followed even by the wild Ra⯑vens^*. Scaliger relates, that king Louis (pro⯑bably Louis XII.) had one ſo trained, and uſed it in the chace of partridges^†. Albertus ſaw one at Naples which caught partridges and pheaſants, and even other Ravens; but to hunt birds of its own ſpecies it required to be rouſed, and, as it were, forced by the preſence of the falconer^‡. Laſtly, It can ſometimes be taught, it would ſeem, to protect its maſter and aſſiſt him againſt his enemies by its manoeuvres: at leaſt if we give credit to the ſtory which Aulus Gellius tells of the Crow of Valerius^§.

[18] The Raven has alſo great ſagacity at ſcenting out^* carrion from a diſtance: Thucydides aſ⯑cribes to it the inſtinct of abſtaining from the carcaſſes of animals that have died of the plague^†. It has been ſaid alſo, that a bird of this kind, wanting to drink out of a veſſel which was too narrow to admit it, had the ſhrewdneſs to drop into it ſmall ſtones, which by degrees raiſed the water to the top^‡. This thirſt, if the fact be true^§, is a circumſtance which diſtinguiſhes the Raven from all the reſt of the birds of prey, eſpecially from thoſe which feed on live game, which are ſtimu⯑lated by hunger, and never deſire but to drink blood. Another difference is, that the Ravens are more ſocial than the other rapacious birds: but it is eaſy to account for this; ſince, as they eat every ſort of food, and have more reſources than the reſt of the carnivorous kind, they can ſubſiſt in greater numbers on the ſame extent, and have not therefore the ſame cauſes of ſepa⯑ration. We may here obſerve, that though tame Ravens feed on all ſorts of fleſh, and thoſe in the ſtate of liberty be generally ſuppoſed to commit great havock among the moles and field⯑mice^*; [19] Hebert, who has noticed them atten⯑tively for a long courſe of years, never ſaw them tear or mangle dead carcaſſes, or even ſettle upon them: he is therefore of opinion, that they prefer inſects, and eſpecially earth⯑worms, to every other ſort of food. He adds, that earth is found in their excrements.

The Ravens, the real mountain Ravens, are not birds of paſſage, and in this reſpect they differ, more or leſs, from the Crows with which they aſſociate. They ſeem particularly attached to the rock where they were bred, or rather where they have paired; it is their ordinary reſidence, which they never entirely abandon. If they deſcend into the plains, it is to procure their ſubſiſtence; and this more rarely happens in ſummer than in winter, becauſe they avoid the heat, which appears to be the only influence that difference of ſeaſons produces on them. They do not paſs [20] the night in the woods, like the Carrion Crows; they chooſe, in their mountains, a retreat ſhel⯑tered from the northern blaſt, under the natural alcoves ſecured by the receſſes and projections of the rocks. Thither they retire during the night, to the number of fifteen or twenty. They ſleep perched on the buſhes that grow between the rocks, and build their neſts in the crevices, or in the holes of walls, on the tops of old deſerted towers, and ſometimes on the high branches of large ſtraggling trees^*. Each male attaches itſelf to a female, with which it remains united for the courſe of many years^†; for theſe birds, which we view with diſguſt, can yet in⯑ſpire mutual and conſtant love, and, like the turtle, expreſs the gradual ſwell of paſſion. The male, if we believe ſome authors, begins always with a ſort of love-ſong^‡, then careſſes and bills with his mate; and it has even been alleged, that they copulate by the bill^§. The fact is, that [21] we ſee their courtſhips frequently in the day-time; but the conſummation is performed in the ſilence and obſcurity of the moſt ſecret receſs^*; and hence, probably, the origin of the fable. Nor muſt we aſcribe this to any motives of decency; wild animals are conſcious of the danger of their ſituation, and are anxious to provide for their ſecurity. The White-John, we have already ſeen, conceals itſelf while it drinks, becauſe, its head being plunged up to the eyes in the water, it is in danger of being ſurprized. The Raven has the more need of caution, ſince he is languid in the act of coition, which pro⯑bably laſts a conſiderable time; he therefore ſeeks a ſecret retreat, where, in undiſturbed ſe⯑curity, he may indulge his paſſion^†.

The female is diſtinguiſhed from the male, according to Barrere, by its plumage being of a lighter black, and her bill weaker; and my own obſervations ſeem to confirm this remark. She lays, about the month of March^‡, five or ſix eggs^§, pale and bluiſh green, marked with a great number of ſpots and ſtreaks of a dirty co⯑lour^*. [22] She ſits about twenty days^†, during which time the male provides her with food, and the ſupply is large; for the peaſants ſome⯑times find in the Ravens' neſts, or near them, conſiderable heaps of grain, nuts, and fruits. It has been ſuſpected, indeed, that this hoarding is intended not only for the females during in⯑cubation, but for the ſubſiſtence of both through the winter^‡. But whatever be their motives, certain it is, that the Ravens ſteal not only pro⯑viſions, but whatever tickles their fancy, par⯑ticularly bits of metal and glittering ſubſtances^§. There was one at Erford, which had the aſſi⯑duity to carry, one by one, and conceal beneath a ſtone in a garden, a quantity of ſmall pieces, amounting to five or ſix florins^‖. Every country furniſhes ſtories of ſuch domeſtic thefts.

When the young are hatched, they are far from being of the colour of their parents; they are rather white than black, contrary to the ſwans, which are originally brown, though de⯑ſtined to wear a ſnowy plumage^¶. At firſt the mother ſeems to treat her offspring with indif⯑ference, nor does ſhe feed them till they begin to be feathered: it has been alleged, that ſhe alters her conduct the moment ſhe is convinced [23] by their plumage that they are not ſpurious^*. But for my part, I can ſee nothing in this that has not place in other animals, and even in man, ſome days after birth; a certain time is ne⯑ceſſary to reconcile them to a new element and a new exiſtence. Nor is the young Raven then totally deſtitute of food; for a part of the yolk is included in the abdomen, and flows inſenſibly into the inteſtines by a particular duct^†. After a few days, the mother feeds the young with the proper aliments, which previouſly undergo a preparation in her crop, and are then diſ⯑gorged into their bills, nearly as in the pigeons^‡.

But the male not only provides for the fa⯑mily, but watches for its ſafety. If he perceive a kite, or other ſuch rapacious bird, approach the neſt, the danger animates his courage; he takes wing, gains above his foe, and daſhing downwards, he ſtrikes violently with his bill; both contend for the aſcendency, and ſometimes they mount entirely out of ſight, till, overcome with fatigue, one or both fall to the ground^§.

Ariſtotle, and many others after him, pre⯑tend that, when the young are able to fly, the parents drive them out of the neſt; and if the tract where they are ſettled affords too ſcanty a ſubſiſtence, they entirely expel them from [24] their precincts^*. If this fact were true, it would ſhew that they are really birds of prey; but it does not agree with the obſervations which Hebert has made on the Ravens which inhabit the mountains of Bugey; for they protract the education of their brood beyond the period when theſe are able to provide for themſelves. As it ſeldom happens that opportunity and ta⯑lents concur in making ſuch obſervations, I ſhall relate them in his own words:

‘The young Ravens are hatched very early in the ſeaſon, and againſt the month of May are able to quit their neſt. A family of them was every year bred oppoſite to my windows upon the rocks which terminate the proſpect. The young, to the number of four or five, ſat on the large detached fragments about the middle of the precipice, where they were ea⯑ſily ſeen, and drew notice by their continual wailing. Every time that the parents brought them food, which happened fre⯑quently during the courſe of the day, they called with a cry, crau, crau, crau, very dif⯑ferent from their other noiſe. Sometimes one tried to fly, and, after a ſlight eſſay, it returned to ſettle upon the rock. Almoſt always ſome one was left behind, and its wailing then be⯑came inceſſant. After the young had ſtrength ſufficient to fly, that is, fifteen days at leaſt [25] after their leaving the neſt, the parents con⯑ducted them every morning to the field, and in the evening led them back. It was com⯑monly five or ſix in the afternoon when the family returned, and they ſpent the reſt of the day in noiſy brawling. This practice laſted the whole ſummer, which would give reaſon to ſuppoſe that the Ravens have not two hatches annually.’

Geſner fed young Ravens with raw fleſh, ſmall fiſhes, and bread ſoaked in water. They are very fond of cherries, and ſwallow them greedily, with the ſtones and ſtalks; they digeſt, however, only the pulpy part, and in two hours afterwards vomit up the reſt. It is alſo ſaid that they diſgorge the bones of thoſe animals which they eat entire, like the keſtril, the nocturnal birds of prey, the fiſhing birds, &c.^* Pliny ſays^†, that the Raven is ſubject every ſummer to a periodical diſtemper, which laſts ſixty days, whoſe principal ſymptom is exceſſive thirſt: but I ſuſpect that this is nothing but moulting, which is more tedious in this bird than in many others of the rapacious tribe^‡.

No perſon, as far as I know, has determined the age at which the young Ravens have ac⯑quired their full growth, and are able to pro⯑pagate. If in the birds, as in the quadrupeds, each period of life was proportional to the total [26] ſpace of exiſtence, we might ſuppoſe that the Crows required many years to reach their adult ſtate; for though the venerable age aſcribed by Heſiod^* muſt be conſiderably curtailed, it ſeems well aſcertained that this bird ſometimes lives a century or more. In many cities of France they have been known to attain to that diſtant period; and in all countries and all ages, they have been reckoned as birds extremely long-lived. But the progreſs to maturity muſt be ſlow in this ſpecies compared to the duration of their life; for towards the end of the firſt ſummer, when all the family conſort together, it is difficult to diſtinguiſh the old from the young, and very probably they are capable of breeding the ſe⯑cond year.

We have already remarked that the Crow is not black at firſt. In the decline of life alſo, its plumage loſes the deep colour; and in extreme age, changes into yellow^†. But at no time is this bird of a pure black, without the inter⯑mixture of other ſhades: Nature knows no ab⯑ſolute [27] uniformity. The black, which predomi⯑nates, is mingled with violet on the upper part of the body, with cinereous on the throat, and with green under the body and on the quills of the tail, and the largeſt feathers of the wings and the remoteſt of the back^*. Only the feet, the nails, and the bill, are quite black; and this colour of the bill ſeems to penetrate to the tongue, as that of the feathers appears to tinc⯑ture the fleſh. The tongue is cylindrical at its baſe, flattened and forked near the tip, and roughened with ſmall points on the edges. The organ of hearing is very complicated, and more ſo, perhaps, than in the other birds^†. It muſt alſo be more ſenſible, if we credit Plutarch, who ſays, that he has ſeen Crows fall down ſtunned with the noiſy acclamations of a numerous mul⯑titude, agitated by violent emotions^‡.

The oeſophagus dilates at its junction with the ventricle, and forms a kind of craw, which was not overlooked by Ariſtotle. The inner ſurface of the ventricle is furrowed with wrinkles; the gall-bladder is very large, and adheres to the inteſtines^‖. Redi found worms in the ca⯑vity of the abdomen ^§: the length of the gut is nearly twice that of the bird itſelf, meaſuring [28] from the tip of the bill to the extremities of the nails; that is, a medium between the extent of the inteſtines of the true carnivorous birds and the true granivorous: in a word, it is exactly ſuited for an animal which lives partly on fleſh, and partly on fruits^*.

The appetite of the Raven, which is thus re⯑conciled to every ſort of aliment, proves often its deſtruction, from the eaſe with which bird⯑catchers can provide a bait. The powder of the nux vomica, which is mortal to ſo many qua⯑drupeds, is alſo a poiſon to the Raven; it is benumbed, and drops ſoon after eating the doſe; but the moment of intoxication muſt be ſeized, for the torpor is often only tranſient, and the bird recovers ſtrength ſufficient to reach its na⯑tive rock, there to languiſh or expire^†. It is alſo caught by various ſorts of nets, ſnares, and gins, and even by the bird-call, like the little warblers; for it alſo entertains an anti⯑pathy to owls, and cannot ſee them without venting a cry^‡. It is ſaid to wage war with the kite, the vulture, and the ſea-pie^‖; but this [29] is nothing but the natural averſion to all carni⯑vorous birds, which are enemies or rivals of each other.

When the Ravens alight upon the ground, they walk, but do not hop. Like the birds of prey, they have long vigorous wings, extending nearly three feet and a half; theſe conſiſt of twenty quills, of which the two or three firſt^* are ſhorter than the fourth, which is the longeſt of all; and the middle ones have a remarkable property, viz. that the ends of their ſhafts ſtretch beyond the vanes, and terminate in points. The tail contains twelve quills, which are about eight inches long, but ſomewhat unequal, the two middle ones being the longeſt, then thoſe next, ſo that the end of the tail appears ſome⯑what rounded on its horizontal plane^†. This I ſhall afterwards call the tapered tail ^‡.

From the extent of its wings we may infer the elevation of its flight. In ſtorms and tem⯑peſts the Raven, it is ſaid, has been ſeen gliding through the air, conveying fire at its bill^‖. This is only the luminous ſtar formed at the point of its bill, in its paſſage through the ele⯑vated regions of the atmoſphere, then ſurcharged [30] with electricity. From ſome appearance of this kind, probably, the Eagle has been termed the miniſter of thunder; for there are few fables but are founded upon truth.

Since the Raven has a lofty flight, and is ca⯑pable of enduring every temperature, the wide world is opened for its reception^*. In fact, it is ſcattered from the polar circle^† to the Cape of Good Hope^‡ and the iſland of Madagaſcar^‖; and its number is determined by the quantity of food which the various intermediate regions ſupply, and the convenience of the ſituations which they afford^§. It ſometimes migrates from the coaſts of Barbary to the iſland of Te⯑neriffe. It is found in Mexico, St. Domingo, and Canada^¶, and undoubtedly in the other parts of the New Continent, and of the adjacent iſlands. When it is once ſettled in a country, and has become accuſtomed to its ſituation, it ſeldom quits it to roam into another^**. It grows even attached to the neſt which it has built, and uſes it for ſeveral years together.

Its plumage is not the ſame in all countries. Beſide the changes which age introduces, the [31] colour is alſo ſubject to vary from the influence of climate. It is ſometimes entirely white in Norway and Iceland, where numbers are alſo quite black^*. On the other hand, white Ravens are found in the heart of France and Germany^†, in neſts where ſome are likewiſe black. The Mexican Raven, called Cacalotl by Fernandez^‡, is variegated with two colours. That of the Bay of Saldagne has a white collar^‖; that of Madagaſcar, named Coach, according to Flac⯑court, is white under the belly. The ſame mix⯑ture of black and white occurs in ſome indivi⯑duals of the European ſort, even in what Briſſon terms the White Raven of the North ^§, which ought rather to have been called the Black and White Raven, ſince the upper part of its body is black and the under white, its head white and black, and alſo its bill, its feet, its tail, and its wings: theſe have twenty-one quills, and the tail has twelve; and what is remarkable, the [32] quills, at an equal diſtance on either ſide, which are commonly alike, are in this ſubject marked with black and white, differently diſtributed. This circumſtance would induce me to ſuppoſe that this is only an accidental change produced on the natural colour, which is black, by the exceſſive rigour of the climate; and if this con⯑jecture be well founded, it would follow, that this is improperly reckoned a permanent ſpe⯑cies, eſpecially as all other animals that inhabit the arctic regions are clothed with a thicker fur than thoſe of the ſame kind which live in milder climates.

Theſe variations in the plumage of a bird ſo generally and ſo deeply impreſſed with black as the Raven, is another proof that colour can afford no permanent or eſſential character.

There is another kind of Raven which forms a variety in point of ſize. Thoſe of Mount Jura, for inſtance, appeared to Hebert, who had an opportunity of comparing them, to be larger than thoſe which inhabit the mountains of Bugey; and Ariſtotle^* informs us, that the Ravens and Hawks were ſmaller in Egypt than in Greece. ^A [33]

FOREIGN BIRDS, RELATED TO THE RAVEN.

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE CROWS.

The JACKDAWS.
• Les Choucas, Buff. , • Corvus-Monedula, Linn. and Gmel, , • Cornix Garrula, Klein. , • Graculus, ſeu Monedula, Geſner. , • Monedula, ſeu Lupus, Aldrov. Ray, and Briſſ. , and • The Kae, Sibbald ^*. 

THESE birds are nearly related to the Crows; to inſtitute a compariſon between them would therefore throw light on the hiſtory of both. As there are three ſpecies of Crows, the black (the Carrion-Crow), the cinereous (the Hooded-Crow), and the bald (the Rook); ſo there are three correſponding ones among the Jack⯑daws: a black one (the Daw, properly ſo called); a cinereous (the Chough); and a bald. The only difference is, that the laſt is of America, and has little black in its plumage. In general the Jackdaws are ſmaller than the Crows; their cry, at leaſt that of the two European ſpecies, the [60] only kinds known to us, is ſhriller, and has influence in the forming of their names; ſuch as Choucas, Graccus, Kaw, Kae, &c. But it appears that they have more than one inflexion of voice; for I am aſſured that they ſometimes call out tian, tian, tian.

They live upon inſects, grain, fruits, and even fleſh, though very rarely; but they will not touch filth, nor do they haunt the coaſts to pick up the dead fiſh and other carcaſes that are caſt aſhore by the ſea^*. In this circumſtance they reſemble more the Rook, and even the Hooded-Crow, than the Carrion-Crow; but they approach the latter by the habit of ſearch⯑ing and hunting for partridge eggs, of which they deſtroy great numbers.

They fly in large flocks, like the Rooks; like theſe, too, they form a ſort of cantonments, which are even more numerous, conſiſting of a mul⯑titude of neſts crouded upon one another, in a large tree, in a belfry, or in the ruins of an old deſerted caſtle^†. The male and female, when once paired, remain a long time ſteadily united. When the genial ſeaſon returns, which awakens the ſenſibility of the animal frame, they eagerly court each other's ſociety, and prattle inceſſantly; they toy and kiſs, till they are worked up to a [61] fury which can no longer be ſatisfied with the calmer joys: nor do they omit theſe prelimi⯑naries when reduced to the ſtate of captivity^*. After fecundation, the female lays five or ſix eggs, marked with a few brown ſpots on a greeniſh ground; and, after the young are hatched, ſhe watches, feeds, and rears them with an affection which the male is eager to ſhare. In this reſpect the Jackdaw reſembles the Crows, eſpecially the common ſort: but Charleton and Schwenckfeld aſſert that it has two hatches in the year; which has never been affirmed of any of the Crows, though it well correſponds to the order of nature, the ſmall ſpecies being always the moſt prolific.

The Jackdaws are birds of paſſage, though they are not ſo well entitled to that appellation as the Rooks and Hooded-Crows, ſince a num⯑ber of them continue in the country through the ſummer. The towers of Vincennes are at every ſeaſon ſtocked with them, and ſo are all old buildings which afford the ſame convenience and ſhelter; but in France there are always fewer in ſummer than in winter. Thoſe which migrate, form themſelves into great bodies, like the Rooks and the Hooded-Crows; ſometimes they join the ſame army, and continually chatter as they fly: yet they keep not the ſame periods in France as in Germany; for they leave Ger⯑many [62] in autumn with their young, and appear not again till the ſpring, after having wintered with us; and Friſch was right in maintaining that they do not hatch during their abſence, ſince neither the Jackdaws nor other birds breed in winter.

With reſpect to their internal ſtructure, I ſhall only obſerve that they have a muſcular ventricle, and near its ſuperior orifice a dilatation of the oeſophagus, which ſerves in place of a crop, as in the Crows, but that the gall-bladder is more elongated.

They can be eaſily tamed and taught to ſpeak. They ſeem fond of the domeſtic ſtate; but they are faithleſs ſervants, concealing the food which they cannot conſume, and ſecreting bits of money and jewels.

To complete the hiſtory of the Jackdaws, we have only to compare together the two kinds which are natives of Europe, and afterwards ſubjoin, as uſual, the foreign ſpecies and varieties.

THE COMMON JACKDAW^* is of the ſize of a pigeon; its iris is whitiſh, it has ſome white ſtreaks under its throat, ſome dots of the ſame colour round its noſtrils, and ſome of an aſh colour on the hind part of the head and neck; the reſt is entirely black, which is deeper, how⯑ever, [63] on the upper parts, and gloſſed ſometimes with violet, ſometimes with green.

THE CHOUGH^* differs from the preceding, in being rather ſmaller, and perhaps leſs com⯑mon; its iris is bluiſh, as in the Rooks; the prevailing colour of its plumage is black, with⯑out any cinereous mixture, and ſmall white points are obſerved round its eyes. But in every other reſpect they are exactly alike, and there is no reaſon to doubt that they belong to the ſame ſpecies, and would breed together.

We need not be ſurpriſed that birds ſo nearly related to the Crows, ſhould preſent the ſame varieties. Aldrovandus ſaw in Italy a Jackdaw with a white collar; this is probably the ſame with what is found in many parts of Switzer⯑land, and which for this reaſon the Engliſh call the Helvetian Daw ^†.

Schwenckfeld had occaſion to ſee a white Daw, with a yellowiſh bill. Theſe white Daws are more common in Norway and the cold countries; in the temperate climates even, as in Poland, a ſmall white Daw is ſometimes found in the neſt of the black Daws or Choughs^‡: in this caſe the colour of the plumage does not depend on the [64] influence of climate, but ariſes from a natural defect; in the ſame way as white Ravens are bred in France, and white Negroes born in Africa.

Schwenckfeld ſpeaks: 1 ſt, of a variegated Daw, which reſembles the true Jackdaw, except that its wings are white, and its bill hooked. 2. Another Daw, which is very rare, and differs from the common kind in its being croſſed^*. But theſe are, perhaps, individual varieties, or monſtrous productions. ^A

The ALPINE DAW ^*.
• Le Choquard, ou Choucas des Alpes, Buff. , • Corvus-Pyrrhocorax, Linn. and Gmel. , • Pyrrhocorax, Geſner, and Aldrovandus. , and • The Alpine Crow, Lath. 

PLINY calls this bird Pyrrhocorax, which name alone includes an abridged deſcrip⯑tion. Korax, which ſignifies Crow, marks the blackneſs of its plumage, as well as the analogy of its ſpecies; and pyrrhos, which means rufous or orange, denotes the colour of its bill, which, in fact, varies between yellow and orange; and alſo that of its feet, which are ſtill more vari⯑able, ſince they were red in the ſubject examined by Geſner and black in the one deſcribed by Briſſon. That author mentions alſo their being ſometimes yellow, and others relate that they are yellow in winter, and red in ſummer. Theſe yellow feet and bill, which laſt is ſmaller than that of the Jackdaw, have made it be taken for the Blackbird, and termed the Great Alpine Black⯑bird. But if we draw a compariſon, we ſhall find that it approaches much nearer to the Jack⯑daws, by the ſize of its body, the length of its [66] wings, and even the ſhape of its bill, though ſlenderer, and by its noſtrils being covered with feathers, which are thinner, indeed, than in the Jackdaws.

In the article of the Red-legged Crow, or Corniſh Chough, I have ſtated the difference between theſe two birds; which Belon, and ſome others who have not ſeen them, have confounded together.

Pliny believed the Pyrrohocorax to be of the Alps^*; but Geſner, who has accurately pointed out the diſtinction between it and the Red-legged Crow, ſays, that in certain parts of the country of the Griſons, this bird does not ap⯑pear in winter; and in other parts that it is ſeen nearly the whole year, but that its favourite re⯑ſidence, where it ſettles in numerous flocks, is the ſummit of lofty mountains. Theſe facts reſtrict ſomewhat the opinion of Pliny, but at the ſame time they confirm it.

The Alpine Daw is of a middle ſize, be⯑tween the Jackdaw and the Carrion-Crow: its bill is ſmaller, and more arched, than either; its cry is ſhriller, and more plaintive than the Jack⯑daw, and by no means agreeable^†.

[67] It lives chiefly upon grain, and is very de⯑ſtructive among the crops; its fleſh is very in⯑different eating. The inhabitants of the moun⯑tains draw meteorological predictions from its manner of flying; if it riſes aloft, they lay their account for cold; if it keep near the ſur⯑face, they expect mild weather. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE JACKDAWS.

The MAGPIE ^*.
• La Pie, Buff. , • Corvus-Pica, Linn. and Gmel. , • Pica Varia & Caudata, Geſner, and Aldrov. , • Pica Ruſticorum, Klein. , and • The Magpie, Pianet, or Piot, Will. Alb. &c. 

THIS bird reſembles the crow ſo much in external appearance, that Linnaeus has claſſed them under the ſame genus; and Belon remarks, that if the tail of the Magpie was ſhortened, and the white removed from its plumage, it would be really a crow. In fact, the Magpie has the bill, the feet, the eyes, and the general ſhape of the crows and jackdaws; it has alſo many of their inſtincts and habits, for it is omnivorous, living on all ſorts of fruits, and devouring even carrion^†, robbing the ſmall birds' neſts of the eggs and the young, and ſeizing ſometimes the parents, either by an [76] open attack, or by ſurpriſing them while en⯑ſnared. One has been known to fall upon a blackbird, another to ſnatch a crab, but ſtrangled by the cloſing of the claws, &c.^*

Its fondneſs for live fleſh has ſuggeſted the breeding it for falconry, like the ravens^†. It com⯑monly ſpends the warm ſeaſon paired with its female, and engaged in hatching and breeding its young. In the winter it goes in flocks, and approaches the hamlets, where it has greater re⯑ſources, which the ſeverity of the ſeaſon renders the more neceſſary. It is eaſily reconciled to the ſight of man, ſoon grows familiar in the houſe, and at laſt becomes maſter. I knew one which paſſed a day and night among a crew of cats, which it was ſhrewd enough to command.

It prattles nearly like the carrion-crow, and learns to imitate the cries of animals, and even the human voice. One is mentioned which could exactly mimic the calf, the kid, the ſheep, and even the notes of the ſhepherd's pipe: another repeated completely, the flouriſh of trumpets^‡. Willoughby knew many which [77] could pronounce whole phraſes. Margot is the word commonly given them, becauſe they can the moſt readily articulate it; and Pliny aſſures us, that this bird is very fond of that ſort of imitation, is pleaſed with repeating the words it has learned, ſtudies patiently and earneſtly to recal thoſe it has loſt, is overjoyed with the diſ⯑covery, and ſometimes dies of vexation, if its recollection fails it, or if its tongue refuſes to pronounce a hard word^*.

The tongue of the Magpie is like that of the raven, for the moſt part black. It alights on the backs of hogs and ſheep, like the jack⯑daw, and ſearches after the vermin which in⯑feſt theſe animals; with this difference, how⯑ever, that the hog receives its civilities with complaiſance; but the ſheep, no doubt more delicate and ſenſible, ſeems to dread it^†. It alſo ſnaps, very dexterouſly, the flies and other winged inſects which come in its way.

The Magpie can be caught by the ſame ſnares, and in the ſame manner with the car⯑rion-crow, and it is addicted to the ſame bad habits of ſtealing and hoarding up proviſions^‡; [78] habits almoſt ever inſeparable in the different ſpecies of animals. It is imagined alſo to fore⯑bode rain, when it chatters more than uſually^*. On the other hand, many circumſtances concur to ſeparate it from the crows.

It is much ſmaller than even the jackdaw, not weighing more than eight or nine ounces; its wings are ſhorter, and its tail longer in pro⯑portion, and hence its flight is neither ſo lofty, nor ſo well ſupported. It never undertakes diſtant journies, but only flies from tree to tree, or from ſteeple to ſteeple. When on the ground, it is in a continual flutter, hopping as much as walking, and briſkly wagging its tail. It ſhews, in general, more reſtleſſneſs and ac⯑tivity than the crows; it is more malicious, and is diſpoſed to a ſpecies of raillery^†. The fe⯑male accordingly diſplays greater art and con⯑trivance in the conſtruction of her neſt; whe⯑ther becauſe ſhe is more ardent for the male^‡, and therefore more attached to its young, or becauſe ſhe is aware that many birds of rapine [79] are forward to plunder its eggs and its brood, and, beſides, that ſome of them are prompted to retaliate. She places her neſt on the tops of the loftieſt trees, or, at leaſt, on high buſhes^*, and, with the aſſiſtance of the male, ſtrengthens it on the outſide with flexible twigs and worked mud, and environs the whole with a baſketing of ſmall thorny branches cloſely entangled, leaving only in the thickeſt and moſt acceſ⯑ſible ſide, a ſmall hole for entering. But not contented with ſafety alone, ſhe ſeeks conveni⯑ence; ſhe lines the bottom of the neſt with a ſort of round mattreſs^†, on which the young repoſe ſoft and warm; and though this lining, which is the true neſt, be only ſix inches in diameter, the whole maſs, including the thorny embraſure, is at leaſt two feet every way.

But all theſe precautions are not ſufficient to remove her anxiety and apprehenſions: ſhe is [80] perpetually on the watch; if ſhe perceive a crow to approach, ſhe flies immediately to meet him, haraſſes him, and purſues him to a diſ⯑tance^*. If the enemy be more formidable, a falcon for inſtance, or an eagle, yet will not fear reſtrain; ſhe ruſhes on danger with a te⯑merity which is not always crowned with ſuc⯑ceſs. Her conduct muſt ſometimes, however, be more conſiderate, if we believe what is al⯑leged, that when ſhe ſees a perſon ſpying her neſt with too envious an eye, ſhe tranſports the eggs to ſome other place, either between her claws, or in a way ſtill more incredible^†. Sportſmen tell ſtories no leſs ſtrange about her ſkill in arithmetic, though her knowledge ex⯑tends not beyond the number five^‡.

She lays ſeven or eight eggs at each hatch, and breeds only once a year, unleſs the neſt be deſtroyed or deranged, in which caſe ſhe con⯑ſtructs another, and both parents exert them⯑ſelves [81] with ſuch ardour as to complete it in leſs than a day. They have afterwards a ſecond hatch, conſiſting of four or five eggs; and if they be again diſturbed, they will rebuild the neſt, and make a third hatch, though ſtill ſmaller than the preceding^*. The eggs of the Magpie are never ſo large, or of ſo deep a colour, as thoſe of the Raven; they are marked with brown ſpots, ſtrewed on a blue-green ground, moſt crowded about the thick end. John Liebault, quoted by Salerne, is the only one who affirms that the male and female ſit al⯑ternately.

The Magpies are hatched blind and ſhapeleſs, and it is ſome time before they aſſume their de⯑ſtined form. The mother not only rears them with an anxious care, but takes an intereſt in them after they are grown up. Their fleſh is indif⯑ferent eating, though it is not held in ſuch averſion as that of young crows.

With reſpect to the difference remarked in the plumage, I conceive it to be not abſolutely ſpecific; ſince, among the ravens, the crows, and the jackdaws, individuals are found varie⯑gated, like the Magpie, with black and white: we muſt admit, indeed, that in the former black [82] [...] [83] [...] [82] is the ordinary colour, as the mixture of white and black is in the latter. But this is not uni⯑form; and if we examine the bird cloſely, or view it in certain lights, we may perceive ſhades of green, purple, and violet, though not ex⯑pected in a bird ſo little celebrated for beauty of plumage^*. The male is diſtinguiſhed from the female by the deeper blue gloſs on the upper part of its body, and not by the blackneſs of its tongue, as ſome have alleged.

The Magpie is ſubject to moult, like the other birds; but it is obſerved, that the feathers drop ſucceſſively and by degrees, except thoſe on the head, which are detached all at once, ſo that at the annual return of the ſeaſon it appears bald^†. The young ones do not get their long tail before the ſecond year; and, no doubt, this is the time when they become adult.

All that I can learn with reſpect to the dura⯑tion of the life of the Magpie is, that Dr. Der⯑ham kept one twenty years, when it grew blind with age^‡.

This bird is very common in France, Eng⯑land, Germany, Sweden, and in every part of Europe, except Lapland^‖; it is alſo rare in mountainous countries, which ſhews that it [83] cannot ſupport exceſſive cold. I ſhall cloſe this account with a ſhort deſcription, which will il⯑luſtrate what cannot be repreſented at all, or which the figure expreſſes imperfectly.

It has twenty quills in each wing, the firſt of which is very ſhort, and the fourth and fifth the longeſt; twelve unequal quills in the tail, diminiſhing always in length, the farther they are from the two middle ones, which are the longeſt of all; the noſtrils round; the internal eye-lids marked with a yellow ſpot; the edges of the chops beſet with hairs; the tongue blackiſh, and forked; the inteſtines about twenty-two inches long; the coecums half an inch; the oeſophagus dilated and covered with glands at its junction with the ventricle, which is but little muſcular; the kidney oblong; and the gall-bladder of the ordinary ſize^*.

I have already ſaid that there are white Mag⯑pies as well as white ravens; and though the principal cauſe of this change of the plumage is the influence of northern climates, as may be ſuppoſed of the white Magpie of Wormius^†, which was brought from Norway, and even [84] of ſome of thoſe mentioned by Rzacynſki^*: I muſt confeſs, however, that they are ſometimes found in temperate climates; for inſtance, the one caught ſome years ago in Sologne, which was entirely white, except a ſingle black feather in the middle of its wings^†; whether it had mi⯑grated from the northern countries to France, after having undergone this change, or was bred in France, and the change of colour owing to ſome accidental cauſe. We muſt ſay the ſame of the white Magpies that have ſometimes been ſeen in Italy^‡.

Wormius remarks, that the head of his white Magpie was ſmooth and bare, becauſe he pro⯑bably ſaw it in the moulting ſeaſon; which con⯑firms what I have ſaid with regard to the com⯑mon Magpies.

Willughby ſaw, in the king of England's collection, Magpies of a brown or ruſty colour, which may be eſteemed a ſecond variety of the ordinary ſort. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, RELATED TO THE MAGPIE.

The JAY ^*.
• Le Geai, Buff. , • Corvus Glandarius, Linn. and Gmel. , • Garrulus, Briſſ. , and • Pica Glandaria, Geſner, Aldrov. and Ray. 

WHAT we have ſaid with regard to the in⯑ſtinct of the Magpie, we hold almoſt en⯑tirely in reſpect to the Jay; it will be ſuf⯑ficient, therefore, to notice the characteriſtic differences.

The male is diſtinguiſhed by the bulk of his head and the luſtre of his colours^†. The old ones differ alſo from the young in their plu⯑mage, and hence the various inconſiſtent de⯑ſcriptions^‡.

The Jays are of a petulant diſpoſition; they have keen ſenſations and briſk movements, and in their frequent burſts of rage they hurry into danger, and often entangle their head between two branches, and die thus ſuſpended in the air^§. When they feel reſtraint, their violence exceeds bounds; and hence, in a cage, they entirely loſe their beauty, by the continual rumpling, wearing, and breaking of their feathers.

Their ordinary cry is harſh and frequent; they are alſo fond of imitating other birds whoſe notes are not more agreeable, ſuch as the keſtril, the tawny owl, &c.^‖ If they perceive in the wood a fox or other ravenous animal, they give [96] a certain ſhrill ſcream, to alarm their compa⯑nions; they quickly aſſemble, preſuming that they ſhall be formidable by their numbers, or at leaſt by their noiſe^*. This inſtinct, which the Jays have, of ſummoning their force, together with their violent antipathy to the brown owl, ſuggeſt ſeveral ways of enſnaring them, and the ſport is commonly very ſucceſsful^†; for they are more petulant than the magpies, and by no means ſo ſuſpicious or crafty; nor is their natural cry ſo various, though they have great flexibility of throat, and have a turn for imitating all the cries and ſounds of animals which they ha⯑bitually hear, and even human diſcourſe. The word Richard they can the moſt eaſily imitate. The have alſo, like the magpie, and all the fa⯑mily of the daws, crows, and ravens, the habit of burying their ſuperfluous proviſions^‡, and of ſtealing whatever they can obtain. But they cannot always recognize the ſpot where they have buried their treaſure, or, like all miſers, they are more actuated by the fear of en⯑croaching on their ſtock, than by the deſire of uſing it; ſo that in the ſucceeding ſpring, the acorns and nuts that were concealed, perhaps forgotten, germinate in the earth, and their tender leaves diſcover the uſeleſs heap, though too late, to the frugal ſordid hoarders.

[97] The Jays breed in woods remote from human dwellings, preferring the moſt branchy oaks, whoſe trunks are entwined with ivy^*: but they are not ſo artful and cautious as the mag⯑pies in building their neſts. I have received many of theſe in the month of May; they were hollow hemiſpheres, formed with ſmall inter⯑woven roots, open above, without any ſoft lining, and without any exterior defence. I always found them to contain four or five eggs; others ſay that the number is five or ſix. They were ſmaller than pigeons eggs, gray, with more or leſs of a greeniſh hue, and with ſmall ſpots faintly marked.

The young undergo their moulting in July: they keep company with their parents till the ſucceeding ſpring^†, when they ſeparate, to form new pairs. By this time the blue plate on their wings, which appears very early, has attained its higheſt beauty.

In the domeſtic condition, to which they eaſily conform themſelves, they become accuſ⯑tomed to all ſorts of food, and live in this way eight or ten years^‡. In the ſtate of freedom, they feed not only on acorns and filberts, but on cheſnuts, peas, beans, ſorbs, gooſberries, cherries, raſberries, &c. They alſo prey on the young of other birds, when they can ſurpriſe them in the neſt during the abſence of the pa⯑rents; [98] and ſometimes they venture to attack the old ones, when they diſcover them entangled in ſnares; and in this caſe they advance with their uſual imprudence, and are often caught them⯑ſelves^*. Their fleſh, though not delicate, is eatable, particularly if it be boiled firſt, and af⯑terwards roaſted.

In Jays, the firſt phalanx of the outer toe is in each foot connected with that of the middle toe; the inſide of the mouth is black; the tongue of the ſame colour, forked, thin, membranous, and almoſt tranſparent; the gall-bladder is ob⯑long; the ſtomach not ſo thick, and lined with weaker muſcles than the gizzard in the grani⯑vorous tribe. Their gullet muſt be very wide, for they ſwallow acorns, filberts, and even cheſnuts entire, like the ring-doves^†; I know, however, that they never thus treat the flower-cup of a pink, though they are exceedingly fond of the ſeed which it contains. I have often admired their procedure: if a pink be thrown to them, they ſeize it greedily, and if others be offered, they continue to ſnatch them till their bill can hold no more. When they want to eat theſe, they lay aſide all the reſt but one, hold it with the right foot, and pluck off the petals one by one, keeping a watchful eye all the time, and caſting a glance on every ſide: at laſt, when the ſeed appears, they de⯑vour [99] it greedily, and again begin to pluck a ſecond flower.

This bird is found in Sweden, Scotland, Eng⯑land, Germany, and Italy; and is, I believe, a native of every country in Europe, and even of the correſponding climates of Aſia.

Pliny mentions a kind of Jays or magpies with five toes, which learned to ſpeak better than the reſt^*. This is not more wonderful than that there ſhould exiſt hens with five toes, eſpecially as the Jays become more familiar and domeſtic than hens; and we know well, that all animals which live with man, and feed richly, are ſubject to exuberance of growth. The pha⯑langes of the toes might be multiplied in ſome individuals beyond the uſual number; a de⯑viation which has been aſcribed too generally to every ſpecies^†.

But another variety, more generally known in this ſpecies, is the White Jay. It has the blue mark on the wings^‡, but is diſtinguiſhed from the common Jay by the almoſt univerſal whiteneſs of its plumage, which extends even to its bill and nails, and by the red colour of its eyes, a property obſerved in ſo many other white animals. But we muſt not imagine that this white complexion is entirely pure; it is often ſhaded with a yellowiſh tinge of various intenſity. In a ſubject which I examined, the [100] coverts of the wings were the whiteſt; its feet alſo ſeemed to be more ſlender than thoſe of the common Jay. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE JAY.

The NUTCRACKER ^*.
• Le Caiſſe-Noix, Buff. , • Corvus Caryocatactes, Linn. and Gmel. , • Nucifraga, Briſſ. , • Caryocatactes, Geſner, Ray, and Will. , and • Merula Saxatilis, Aldrov. 

THIS bird is diſtinguiſhed from the jays and magpies by the ſhape of its bill, which is ſtraighter, blunter, and compoſed of two un⯑equal pieces. Its inſtinct is alſo different, for it prefers the reſidence of high mountains, and its diſpoſition is not ſo much tinctured with cunning and ſuſpicion. However, it is cloſely related to theſe two ſpecies of birds; and moſt authors not fettered by their ſyſtems, have ranged it with the jays and magpies, and even with the jackdaws^†, which, it is well known, bear a great analogy to the magpies; but it is [110] aſſerted that it chatters more than any of theſe.

Klein diſtinguiſhes two varieties of the Nut⯑cracker; the one, ſpeckled like the ſtare, has a ſtrong angular bill, a long forked tongue, as in all the magpies; the other is of inferior ſize, and its bill (for he ſays nothing of the plumage) is more ſlender and rounder, compoſed of two unequal mandibles, the upper of which is the longer, and its tongue divided deeply, very ſhort, and almoſt loſt in the throat^*.

According to the ſame author, theſe two birds eat hazel-nuts; but the former breaks them, and the latter pierces them: they feed alſo on acorns, wild berries, the kernels of pine⯑tops, which they pluck dextrouſly, and even inſects. And laſtly, like the jays, the magpies, and the jackdaws, they conceal what they can⯑not conſume.

Beſides the brilliancy of the plumage, the Nutcracker is remarkable for the triangular white ſpots which are ſpread over its whole body, ex⯑cept the head. Theſe ſpots are ſmaller on the [111] upper part, and broader on the breaſt; their effect is the greater, as they are contraſted with the brown ground.

Theſe birds are moſt attached, as I have ob⯑ſerved above, to mountainous ſituations. They are common in Auvergne, Savoy, Lorraine, Franche-Compté, Switzerland, the Bergamaſque, in Auſtria in the mountains which are covered with foreſts of pines. They alſo occur in Sweden, though only in the ſouthern parts of that country^*. The people in Germany call them Turkey birds, Italian birds, African birds; which language means no more than that they are foreign^†.

Though the Nutcrackers are not birds of paſ⯑ſage, they fly ſometimes from the mountains to the plains. Friſch ſays, that flocks of them are often obſerved to accompany other birds into different parts of Germany, eſpecially where there are pine foreſts. But in 1754, great flights of them entered France, particularly Bur⯑gundy, where there are few pines; they were ſo fatigued on their arrival, that they ſuffered themſelves to be caught by the hand^‡. One [112] was killed in the month of October that ſame year at Moſtyn in Flintſhire, which was ſup⯑poſed to have come from Germany. We may remark, that that year was exceedingly arid and hot, which muſt have dried up moſt of the ſprings, and have much affected thoſe fruits on which the Nutcrackers uſually feed. Be⯑ſides, as on their arrival they ſeemed to be fa⯑miſhed, and were caught by all ſorts of baits, it is probable that they were conſtrained to abandon their retreats for want of ſubſiſtence.

One of the reaſons, it is ſaid, why the Nut⯑crackers do not ſettle and breed in the inviting climates, is the perpetual war waged againſt them by the proprietors of the woods, for the injuries which they commit on the large trees, by piercing the trunks, like the wood-peckers^*. Part of them is ſoon deſtroyed, and the reſt is forced to ſeek an aſylum in the deſert unpro⯑tected foreſts.

[113] Nor is this the only circumſtance in which they reſemble the Woodpeckers; they neſtle, like them, in the holes of trees, which, perhaps, they themſelves have formed; for the middle quills of the tail are alſo worn near the end^*, which ſhews that they, as well as the wood⯑peckers, clamber upon trees. In ſhort, Na⯑ture ſeems to have placed the Nutcrackers between the Woodpeckers and the Jays; and it is ſingular, that Willughby has given them this preciſe arrangement in his Ornithology, though his deſcription ſuggeſts no relation be⯑tween theſe ſpecies.

The iris is of a hazel-colour; the bill, the feet, and the nails black; the noſtrils round, ſhaded with whitiſh feathers, ſtraight, ſtiff, and projecting; the feathers of the wing and tail are blackiſh, without ſpots, but only terminated for the moſt part with white; though there are ſome varieties in the different individuals, and in the different deſcriptions, which ſeems to confirm the opinion of Klein with regard to the two races or varieties, which he admits into the ſpecies of the Nutcrackers.

We cannot find, in writers of natural hiſ⯑tory, any details with regard to their laying, their incubation, the training of their young, the duration of their life, &c. for they haunt [114] inacceſſible ſpots, where they enjoy undiſturbed ſafety and felicity. ^A

The ROLLERS.
• Les Rolliers, Buff. 

IF we regard the European Roller as the type of the genus, and reſt its diſtinctive cha⯑racter, not upon one or two ſuperficial qua⯑lities, but upon the general combination of its properties, we ſhall be obliged to make conſi⯑derable changes in the enumeration given by Briſſon.

On this principle, which appears to be well founded, I reduce, 1. The European Roller and the Shaga-Rag of Barbary, mentioned by Dr. Shaw, to the ſame ſpecies. 2. I range to⯑gether the Abyſſinian and the Senegal Roller, with which Briſſon ſeems not to have been ac⯑quainted. 3. I claſs together the Roller of Mindanao; that of Angola, which Briſſon makes his twelfth and thirteenth Rollers; and that of Goa, which Briſſon does not mention. 4. I exclude from the genus of Rollers the fifth ſpecies of Briſſon, or the Chineſe Roller, be⯑cauſe it is a different bird, and is much more like the Cayenne Grivert, with which I ſhall claſs it: I ſhall place both of them, under the common name of Rolle, before the Rollers, be⯑cauſe [116] they appear to form the intermediate ſhade between the Jays and the Rollers. 5. I transfer the Roller of the Antilles to the Jays, which is the ſixth ſpecies of Briſſon. 6. I leave among the birds of prey the Ytzquauhtli, of which Briſſon has made his ſeventh ſpecies of Roller, by the name of the Roller of New Spain, the hiſtory of which has been given after the Eagles. In fact, according to Fernandez, who is the original au⯑thor, and even according to Seba, who copies him, it is really a bird of prey, devouring hares and rabbits, and conſequently is very different from the Rollers. Fernandez ſubjoins, that it is proper for falconry, and that its bulk is equal to that of a ram. 7. I omit alſo the Hoxetot, or Yellow Roller of Briſſon, which I have ranged after the magpies, as being more related to that kind than to any other. Laſtly, I ex⯑clude the Ococolin of Fernandez, for the reaſons already ſtated in the article of the quails; nor can I admit the Ococolin of Seba, which is very different from that of Fernandez, though it bears the ſame name; for it is of the ſize of a crow, its bill is thick and ſhort, its toes and nails very long, its eyes encircled with red pa⯑pillae, &c. In ſhort, after this reduction, and the addition of the new ſpecies or varieties which have been hitherto unknown, the genus will conſiſt of two ſpecies of Rolles, and ſeven of Rollers with their varieties.

The CHINESE ROLLE.
• Coracias Sinenſis, Gmel. , • Galgalus Sinenſis, Briſſ. , and • The Chineſe Roller, Lath. 

This bird has wide noſtrils like the Rollers, and a bill reſembling theirs; but are theſe characters ſufficient to juſtify its claſſification with the Rollers? or are theſe not counter-balanced by more numerous and more im⯑portant differences? Its feet are longer, its wings ſhorter, and conſiſt of a ſmaller number of quills, and theſe differently proportioned^*; its tail is tapered, and its creſt is preciſely like that of the blue Canada Jay. Theſe circum⯑ſtances, but particularly the length of its wings, have induced me to aſſign it a place between the Jays and the Rollers^†.

The GRIVERT, or CAYENNE ROLLE.
• Coracias Cayanenſis, Gmel. , and • The Cayenne Roller, Lath. 

This bird ought not to be ſeparated from the preceding, which it is entirely like, except be⯑cauſe it is ſmaller, and the colours of its plu⯑mage different. With regard to the inſtincts and habits of theſe birds, we can draw no com⯑pariſon, though the reſemblance in their exte⯑rior properties ſeems to denote a radical con⯑nection^*.

The GARRULOUS ROLLER ^†.
• Le Rollier d'Europe, Buff. , • Coracias-Garrula, Linn. and Gmel. , • Galgulus, Briſſ. , • Coracias-Coerulea, Gerini. , and • Garrulus-Coeruleus, Friſch. 

The appellation of Straſburg Jay is ſtill more abſurd; for M. Hermann, profeſſor of medicine and natural hiſtory in that city, writes me, [120] ‘The Rollers are ſo rare here, that ſcarcely three or four ſtragglers are ſeen in the courſe of twenty years.’ One of theſe had been ſent to Geſner, who, not being acquainted with the fact, denominated it the Straſburg Jay.

Beſides, it is a bird of paſſage, and performs its migrations regularly once a-year, in the months of May and September^*; yet it is not ſo common as the magpie or the jay. It is found in Sweden^† and in Africa^‡; but we muſt not ſuppoſe it ſettled in the intermediate regions. It is unknown in many parts of Ger⯑many^§, France, and Switzerland^‖, &c. We may therefore conclude that, in its paſſage, it moves only in a narrow zone, from Smoland and Scania to Africa. There are even points enow given to mark nearly its tract through Sax⯑ony, Franconia, Suabia, Bavaria, Tirol, Italy^¶, Sicily^**, and laſtly, the iſland of Malta^††, which is a ſort of general rendezvous for all [121] the birds that croſs the Mediterranean. The one deſcribed by Edwards was killed on the rock of Gibraltar, whence it could wing its lofty^* courſe to the African ſhore. It is alſo ſeen ſometimes in the vicinity of Straſburg, as we have already noticed, and even in Lorraine, and in the heart of France^†; but theſe are probably young ones, which ſtray from the main body.

The Roller is more wild than the jay or the magpie: it ſettles in the thickeſt and the moſt ſolitary woods; nor, as far as I know, has it ever been tamed or taught to ſpeak^‡. Its plumage is beautiful; it has an aſſemblage of the fineſt ſhades of blue and green, mixed with white, and heightened by the contraſt of duſky colours^§. But a good figure is ſuperior to any deſcription. The young do not aſſume the de⯑licate azure till the ſecond year; whereas the jays are decorated with their moſt beautiful feathers before they leave the neſt.

[122] The Rollers build, when it is in their power, on birches, and it is only when they cannot find theſe that they lodge in other trees^*. But in countries where wood is ſcarce, as in the iſland of Malta and in Africa, they form their neſt, it is ſaid, on the ground^†. If this be a fact, it would follow, that the inſtincts of animals can be modified by ſituation, cli⯑mate, &c.

Klein ſays, that contrary to what happens in other birds, the young Rollers void their ex⯑crements in the neſt^‡; and this circumſtance has perhaps given riſe to the notion that this bird beſmears its neſt with human ordure, as has been alleged of the hoopoe^§; but this is inconſiſtent with its lonely ſylvan haunt.

Theſe birds are often ſeen in company with the wood-peckers and crows, in the tilled [123] grounds which are in the vicinity of their fo⯑reſts. They pick up the ſmall ſeeds, roots, and worms which the plough throws to the ſurface, and even the grain that is lately ſown. When this ſupply fails them, they have recourſe to wild berries, caterpillars, graſshoppers, and even frogs^*. Schwenckfeld adds, that they ſometimes devour carrion; but this muſt be during winter, and only in caſes of abſolute want^†; for they are in general regarded as not carnivorous, and Schwenckfeld himſelf re⯑marks that they are very fat in autumn, and then are good eating^‡, which can hardly be ſaid of birds that feed on garbage.

The Roller has long narrow noſtrils placed obliquely on the bill near its baſe, and open; the tongue is black, not forked, but ragged at the tip, and terminated towards the root by two forked appendices, one on each ſide; the palate is green, the gullet yellow, the ventricle of a ſaffron colour, the inteſtines about a foot long, and the caeca twenty-ſeven lines. The wings extend twenty-two inches, each con⯑ſiſting of twenty quills, or, according to others, of twenty-three, the ſecond of which is the longeſt of all. Laſtly, it is obſerved that [124] wherever theſe quills are black on the outſide, they are blue beneath.

Aldrovandus, who ſeems to have been well acquainted with theſe birds, and who lived in a country which they inhabit, aſſerts that the female differs much from the male, its bill being thicker, and its head, neck, breaſt, and belly of a cheſnut colour, bordering on aſh⯑gray, while the correſponding parts in the male are of the colour of the beryl, with different reflections of a duller green. I ſuſpect that the two long outſide quills of the tail, and the warts behind the eyes, which appear only in ſome individuals, are the attributes of the male, as the ſpur in the gallinaceous tribe, the long tail in the peacocks, &c. ^{255 A}

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE ROLLER.

The GREATER BIRD of PARADISE ^*.
• L'Oiſeau de Paradis, Buff. , • Paradiſea Apoda, Linn. and Gmel. , • Manucodiata, Briſſ. , and • Paradiſea Avis, Cluſius, Seba, Wormius, &c. 

THIS ſpecies is more famous for the ficti⯑tious and imaginary qualities aſcribed to it, than for any real and remarkable properties. The name of the Bird of Paradiſe commonly ſuggeſts the idea of a bird which has no feet; which flies conſtantly, even in its ſleep, or at moſt ſuſpends itſelf but for a few moments from the branches of trees, by means of the long fila⯑ments of its tail^†; which copulates in its flight, like certain inſects, and lays and hatches in a way unexampled in nature^‡; which lives only on vapours and dews, and which has the ca⯑vity [136] of its abdomen entirely filled with fat, in⯑ſtead of ſtomach and inteſtines^*, (which would be quite ſuperfluous, ſince it eats nothing, and therefore needs not to digeſt or to void:) in ſhort, which has no exiſtence but motion, no element but air, where it is ſupported as long as it retains breath, as fiſh are buoyed up in water, and which never touches the ground till after death^†.

This monſtrous heap of abſurdities is only a chain of conſequences juſtly drawn from a ra⯑dical error, that the Bird of Paradiſe has no legs, though it is furniſhed with even pretty large ones^‡.

The fact^§ is, that the Indian merchants, who trade with the feathers of this bird, or the [137] fowlers who ſell them, are accuſtomed, whether for the ſake of preſerving and tranſporting the ſpecimens with more eaſe, or perhaps of coun⯑tenancing an error which is favourable to their intereſt, to dry the bird with its feathers, after having previouſly ſeparated the thighs and ex⯑tracted the entrails. This practice has been ſo long continued, as to have ſtrengthened the prejudice to ſuch a degree, that thoſe who firſt aſſerted the truth were, as uſual, regarded as un⯑worthy of credit^*.

The fable, that the Bird of Paradiſe conti⯑nually flies, derived an appearance of probabi⯑lity from the conſideration of the quantity of feathers with which it is furniſhed; for beſides thoſe common to other birds, it has many long feathers, which riſe on each ſide between the wing and the thigh, and which, extending much beyond the true tail, and mingling with it, form a ſort of falſe tail, which many ob⯑ſervers have miſtaken. Theſe ſubalar feathers are what the naturaliſts term decompoſed; they are very light themſelves, and form a bunch [138] almoſt devoid of weight, and aërial; they will therefore increaſe the apparent bulk of the bird^*, diminiſh its ſpecific gravity, and thus aſſiſt in ſupporting it in the air. But if the wind be contrary, the abundance of plumage will rather obſtruct its motion; accordingly it is obſerved, that the bird of Paradiſe avoids the bluſtering gales^†, and commonly ſettles in countries the leaſt ſubject to them.

Theſe feathers are of the number of forty or fifty on each ſide, of unequal lengths; the greater part ſpread under the true tail, and others lie over it, without concealing it; for their texture is delicately ſlender, and almoſt tranſparent, which is very difficult to repreſent in a figure.

Theſe feathers are highly eſteemed in India, and much ſought after. It is not more than a century ſince they were employed in Eu⯑rope for the ſame purpoſes as thoſe of the Oſtrich; and, indeed, their lightneſs and bril⯑liancy make them elegant ornaments. But the prieſts of Aſia aſcribe to them miraculous vir⯑tues, which give them a new value in the eyes of the vulgar, and have procured the bird the appellation of the Bird of God.

[139] Next to this, the moſt remarkable property of the Bird of Paradiſe is thoſe two long fila⯑ments which take their riſe above the true tail, and extend more than a foot beyond the falſe tail, formed by the ſubalar feathers. Theſe, indeed, are real filaments only at their middle; for at their origin and their termination, they are furniſhed with webs of the ordinary breadth. In the females the extremities are narrower, which, according to Briſſon, is the only diſ⯑tinction between it and the male^*.

The head and throat are covered with a ſort of velvet, formed by ſmall erect feathers, which are ſhort, ſtiff, and cloſe; thoſe of the breaſt and back are longer, but always ſilky and ſoft to the feel. They are all of different colours, which vary according to the poſition and the light in which they are viewed.

The head is very ſmall in proportion to the body; the eyes ſtill ſmaller, and placed very near the opening of the bill. Cluſius reckons only ten quills in the tail; but this aſſertion was certainly not founded on the examination of a living ſubject, and it is doubtful whether the plumage of a bird brought from ſo great a diſtance be entire, eſpecially as it is ſubject to an annual moulting, which laſts ſeveral months. During that time, which happens [140] in the rainy ſeaſon, it lives concealed; but, in the beginning of Auguſt, after hatching, its feathers are reſtored, and in the months of Sep⯑tember and October, in which calm weather prevails, it flies in flocks, like the Stares in Europe^*.

This beautiful bird is not much diffuſed: it is almoſt entirely confined to that part of Aſia which produces the ſpiceries, and eſpecially the iſlands of Arou. It is known alſo in the part of New Guinea oppoſite to theſe iſlands; but the name which it there receives, Burung-Arou, ſeems to indicate its natal ſoil.

Since warm regions of ſpices alone are proper for the Bird of Paradiſe, it probably ſubſiſts on ſome aromatic productions^†; at leaſt it does not live ſolely on dew. J. Otto Helbigius, who travelled into India, tells us, that it feeds on red berries, which grow on a very tall tree. Linnaeus ſays, that it ſubſiſts on large butter⯑flies^‡; and Bontius, that it ſometimes preys on ſmall birds. Its ordinary haunt is the woods, where it perches on the trees, and the Indians watch it in ſlender huts, which they [141] attach to the branches, and ſhoot it with their arrows of reeds^*. It flies like the ſwallow, whence it has been called the Ternate-ſwal⯑low ^†; though others ſay, that its ſhape, indeed, reſembles the ſwallow, but that it flies higher, and always ſoars in the aërial regions^‡.

Though Marcgrave ranges it among the birds of Brazil, there is no reaſon to ſuppoſe that it exiſts in America; at leaſt no European veſſels have ever imported it from thence. Beſides, that naturaliſt does not, as uſual, men⯑tion the name which it receives in the language of the Brazilians, and a bird, clothed in ſuch delicate ſwelling plumage, could not traverſe the wide expanſe of ocean which divides the equatorial parts of the two continents.

The ancients ſeem to have been totally un⯑acquainted with the Bird of Paradiſe: no men⯑tion is ever made of its rich decorations. Belon pretends that it was the phoenix of antiquity; but his opinion is founded on the fabulous qualities of both^§. The phoenix, too, appeared [142] in Arabia and Egypt, while the Bird of Pa⯑radiſe has remained always attached to the Oriental parts of Aſia, which were very little known to the ancients.

Cluſius mentions, on the authority of ſome mariners, who themſelves learned the fact from report, that there are two kinds of this bird; the one large and beautiful, which inhabits the iſlands of Arou; the other inferior to it in ſize and elegance, which is ſettled in the country of the Papous, next Gilolo^*. Helbigius, who heard the ſame in the iſlands of Arou, adds, that the Birds of Paradiſe of New Guinea, or of the Papous, differ from thoſe of Arou, not only in point of ſize, but alſo in the colours of the plumage, which is white and yellowiſh. I ſhould regard theſe authorities as ſuſpicious, and inſufficient to found any general conclu⯑ſion. The dried ſpecimens indeed, which are brought to Europe, preſent great diverſity of appearance; in ſize, in the number and po⯑ſition of the feathers, in the colours of the plumage, &c. But, in ſuch mutilated and im⯑perfect preparations, it is impoſſible to decide what muſt be aſcribed to the effect of age, of ſex, of ſeaſon, of climate, and of other acci⯑dental cauſes. Beſides, the Birds of Paradiſe [143] being very expenſive articles of commerce, many other birds, with long tails and an ele⯑gant plumage, have been paſſed on the credu⯑lity of the public, and the legs and thighs pulled off, to conceal the fraud and enhance the price. We have already had an example in the Paradiſe Roller, mentioned by Edwards, on which the honours of mutilation had been con⯑ferred. I have myſelf ſeen ſeveral paroquets, promerops, and other birds, which had been thus treated, and many inſtances are to be found in Aldrovandus and Seba: and it is very common to disfigure the real Birds of Pa⯑radiſe, with a view to add to their value. I ſhall therefore take notice only of two principal ſpecies of theſe birds, without venturing to vouch for the accuracy of that diviſion till new obſervations illuſtrate the matter^*.

The MANUCODE.
• Paradiſea Regia, Gmel. , • Manucodiata Minor, Briſſ. , • Rex Avium Paradiſaearum, Gaza, Seba, Cluſius, &c. , • The King's Bird, Forreſt. , and • The King Paradiſe Bird, Lath. 

The King Bird of Paradiſe reſembles much the reſt. Like them, his head is ſmall, his eyes ſtill ſmaller, placed near the corner of the opening of the bill; his feet pretty long and firm; the colours of his plumage gloſſy; the two filaments of his tail nearly ſimilar, except that they are ſhorter, and their extremity, which is furniſhed with webs, forms a curl, by rolling into itſelf, and is ornamented with ſpangles, reſembling in miniature thoſe of the peacock^*. He alſo has beneath the wing, on each ſide, a bunch of ſeven or eight feathers, which are longer than in moſt birds, but not ſo long as thoſe of the Bird of Paradiſe, and of a different ſhape, for they are edged through their whole extent with webs of adhering fila⯑ments. The Manucode is ſmaller, the bill white and long in proportion; the wings are alſo longer, the tail ſhorter, and the noſtrils are co⯑vered with feathers.

Cluſius counted only thirteen quills in each wing, and ſeven or eight in the tail; but he did not conſider that in a dried ſpecimen theſe might be complete. The ſame author remarks as a ſingularity, that in ſome the two filaments of the tail croſs each other, though this might [146] often happen from accident, conſidering their flexibility and their length^*.

The MAGNIFICENT BIRD OF PARADISE ^†.
• Le Magnifique de la Nouvelle Guinée, ou Le Manucode à Bouquets, Buff. , and • Paradiſea Magnifica, Gmel. 

The two tufts (bouquets) which I regard as the diſtinctive character of this bird, appear be⯑hind the neck and at its origin. The firſt con⯑ſiſts of ſeveral narrow feathers of a yellow co⯑lour, marked near the point with a ſmall black ſpot, and which, inſtead of lying flat as or⯑dinary, ſtand erect, thoſe near the head at right angles, and the ſucceeding ones with ſmaller inclinations.

Under the firſt tuft we perceive a ſecond, which is larger, but not ſo much raiſed, and more reclined: it is compoſed of long detached filaments, which ſprout from very ſhort ſhafts, and of which fifteen or twenty join together, [147] forming ſtraw-coloured feathers. Theſe fea⯑thers ſeem to be cut ſquare at the end, and make angles, more or leſs acute, with the plane of the ſhoulders.

This ſecond tuft is bounded on the right and left by common feathers, variegated with brown and orange, and is terminated behind by a reddiſh and ſhining brown ſpot, of a triangular ſhape, with the vertex turned towards the tail, and the filaments of the feathers looſe and de⯑compoſed, as in the ſecond tuft.

Another characteriſtic feature of this bird is the two filaments of the tail, which are about a foot long and a line broad, and of a blue co⯑lour, changing into a lucid green, and taking their origin above the tail. So far they much reſemble the filaments of the preceding ſpe⯑cies, but are of a different form, for they do not end in a point, and are furniſhed with webs on the middle only of the inner ſide.

The middle of the neck and breaſt is marked from the throat by a row of very ſhort fea⯑thers, diſplaying a ſeries of ſmall tranſverſe lines, which are alternately of a fine light green, changing into blue, and of a deep duck⯑green.

Brown is the prevailing colour on the lower belly, the rump, and the tail; ruſty yellow is that of the quills, the wings, and of their co⯑verts; [148] but the quills have more than one brown ſpot at their extremity, at leaſt this is the caſe in the ſpecimen preſerved in the Royal Cabinet; for it may be proper to mention that the long quills of the wings, as well as the feet, have been removed^*.

This bird is rather larger than the preceding; its bill is ſimilar, and the feathers of the front extend over the noſtrils, which they partly cover: this is inconſiſtent with the character that has been eſtabliſhed of theſe birds by one of our moſt intelligent ornithologiſts^†.

The feathers of the head are ſhort, ſtraight, cloſe, and very ſoft to the touch. They form a ſort of velvet of a changing colour, as in al⯑moſt all the Birds of Paradiſe, and of a browniſh ground. The throat is alſo covered with velvet feathers; but theſe are black, with golden-green reflections. ^A

The BLACK MANUCODE of NEW GUINEA, called the SUPERB.
• Paradiſea Superba, Gmel. , and • The Superb Paradiſe Bird, Lath. 

The predominant colour of the plumage of this bird is a rich velvet black, decorated under the neck with reflections of deep violet. Its head, breaſt, and the hind part of its neck, are brilliant, with the variable ſhades of a fine green; the reſt is entirely black, not even excepting the bill.

I place this bird immediately after the Birds of Paradiſe, though it wants the filaments of the tail; but we may ſuppoſe that moulting, or ſome accidental cauſe, is the reaſon of this de⯑fect; for in other reſpects it reſembles theſe birds, not only in its general ſhape, and in that of its bill, but is alſo related by the identity of climate, by the richneſs of its colours, and a certain ſuperabundance or luxuriancy of fea⯑thers which is peculiar to the Birds of Paradiſe: for there are two ſmall tufts of black feathers which cover the noſtrils, and two other bunches of the ſame colour, but much longer, and di⯑rected to the oppoſite extremity. Theſe riſe on the ſhoulders, and ſpreading more or leſs over the back, but always bent backwards, form a [150] ſort of wings, which extend almoſt to the ex⯑tremity of the true, when theſe are cloſed.

We muſt add, that theſe feathers are of un⯑equal lengths, and that thoſe of the anterior ſurface of the neck and the ſides of the breaſt are very long and narrow. ^A

The SIFILET, or MANUCODE with Six Filaments.
• Paradiſea Aurea, Gmel. , and • The Gold-breaſted Bird of Paradiſe. 

If we adopt the filaments as the ſpecific cha⯑racter of the Manucodes, the preſent is entitled to be ranged at their head; for inſtead of two, it has ſix, and of theſe not one riſes on the back, but all of them take their origin from the head, three on each ſide. They are half a foot long, and reflect backwards. They have no webs but at their extremity for the ſpace of ſix lines, and theſe are black and pretty long.

Beſides theſe filaments, this bird has two properties which belong to the Bird of Pa⯑radiſe; luxuriancy of feathers and richneſs of colours.

[151] The luxuriancy of feathers conſiſts; 1. In a ſort of tuft compoſed of ſtiff narrow feathers, and which riſes at the baſe of the upper man⯑dible. 2. In the length of the feathers of the belly and of the abdomen, which is four inches or more; one part of theſe feathers, extending directly, conceals the under-ſide of the tail, while another part, riſing obliquely on each ſide, co⯑vers the upper ſurface of the tail as far as the third of its length, and all of them correſpond to the ſubalar feathers of the Bird of Paradiſe, and of the Manucode.

With regard to the plumage, the moſt bril⯑liant colours appear on the neck; behind, it is gold-green and bronze violet; before, topaz-gold reflections, which wanton in all the ſhades of green, and derive new luſtre from the con⯑traſt with the darkneſs of the contiguous parts; for the head is black, changing into a deep violet, and the reſt of the body is brown, in⯑clining to black, and with reflections of the ſame deep violet.

The bill of this bird is nearly the ſame as in the Birds of Paradiſe; the only difference is, that its upper ridge is angular and ſharp, while in moſt of the other kinds it is rounded.

Nothing can be ſaid with reſpect to the feet and the wings, becauſe they were extirpated in the ſubject from which this deſcription is drawn; a practice which, as we have re⯑marked, [152] is uſual with the Indian hunters or merchants. ^A

The CALYBE' of NEW GUINEA ^*.
• Paradiſea Viridis, Gmel. , and • The Blue Green Paradiſe Bird, Lath. 

If this bird has not the luxuriant plumage of the Paradiſe tribe, it has at leaſt the rich co⯑lours and the peculiar ſoftneſs of texture.

Its head is covered with a beautiful blue velvet, changing into green, and exhibiting the reflections of the beryl. The neck is clothed with a longer ſhag, but which dazzles with the ſame colours, except that each feather, being of a ſhining black in the middle, of a green changing into blue only at the edges, there re⯑ſult waving ſhades, which play ſtill more than thoſe of the head. The back, the rump, the tail and the belly are blue, like poliſhed ſteel, and with very brilliant reflections.

[153] The ſmall velvet feathers on its forehead project forwards as far as the noſtrils, which are deeper than in the preceding kinds. The bill is alſo longer and thicker, but it is of the ſame ſhape, and its edges are ſcalloped in the ſame manner near the point. Six quills only are reckoned in the tail, but probably it was not entire.

In the ſubject on which this deſcription is founded, as well as thoſe of the three preceding deſcriptions, a ſtick was paſſed through their whole length, and projected two or three inches out of the bill^*. In that ſimple way, and by extirpating the feathers which would ſpoil the effect, the Indians can in an inſtant form an elegant ſort of plume with any ſmall bird which they meet. But the ſpecimens are thus de⯑ranged, and their proportions altered. On this account it was difficult to diſcover in the Calybé the inſertion of the wings; inſomuch that credulity might have aſſerted that this bird had neither feet nor wings.

The Calybé differs from the Manucodes more than the preceding: for this reaſon I have ranged it in the laſt place, and beſtowed on it a par⯑ticular name^†.

The OX-PECKER.
• Le Pique-Boeuf, Buff. , • Buphaga Africana, Linn. and Gmel. , • Buphaga, Briſſ. , and • The African Beef-eater, Lath. 

BRISSON is the firſt who has deſcribed this little bird, which Adanſon brought from Senegal. It is ſcarcely larger than the creſted lark, and its wings extend only fourteen inches. Its plumage has nothing remarkable; in general a grayiſh brown prevails on the upper part of the body, and grayiſh yellow on the under. The bill is not of an invariable colour; in ſome individuals it is entirely brown; in others red at the point, and yellow at the baſe; in all it is nearly of a quadrangular ſhape, and the points of the two mandibles are reflected in a contrary direction. The tail is tapered in ſteps, and a ſingular circumſtance is obſerved, that the twelve quills, of which it conſiſts, are all pointed. Laſtly, the firſt phalanx of the ex⯑terior toe is cloſely connected to that of the mid-toe.

This bird is very fond of certain worms, or the larvae of inſects, which lodge under the epi⯑dermis in oxen. It alights on the backs of theſe animals, and pierces their ſkin with its bill, to extract theſe worms, and hence its name.

The COMMON STARE ^*.
• L'Etourneau, Buff. , • Sturnus Vulgaris, Linn. Gmel. Scop. Kram, &c. , • Sturnus, Geſner, Belon, Aldrov. Briſſ. &c. , and • The Stare, or Starling, Will. Ray. Sibb. Alb. Penn, &c. 

FEW birds are ſo generally known, eſpecially in the temperate climates, as the Stare; for as it is a conſtant reſident of the diſtrict where it ſettles^†, and as it can be trained in the do⯑meſtic ſtate, its habits have been obſerved, whether when ſubjected to reſtraint, or ranging without controul.

The Blackbird is that, of all the feathered race, which the Stare reſembles the moſt; their [156] young can hardly be diſtinguiſhed^*: but after their characters are developed, the Stare is found to be diſtinguiſhed by the ſtreaks and re⯑flections of its plumage; by the blunter form of its bill, which is broader, and not ſcalloped near the point^†; and by the greater flatneſs of its head, &c. But another very remarkable difference, and which is derived from a more intimate cauſe is, that the ſpecies of the Stare is ſolitary in Europe; whereas the ſpecies of the Blackbird are extremely numerous.

The evening is the time when the Stares aſ⯑ſemble in the greateſt numbers, to provide more effectually againſt the dangers of the night; which they commonly ſpend among the reeds, whither they haſten about the cloſe of the day, in a noiſy flight^*. They chatter much in the [158] evening and morning, at the forming and diſ⯑perſing of their forces; are leſs clamorous during the reſt of the day, and quite ſilent during the night.

So attached are the Stares to ſociety, that they not only join thoſe of their own ſpecies, but alſo birds of a different kind. In the ſpring, before the breeding ſeaſon, they often aſſociate with the crows and jackdaws, and even with the red-wings and field-fares, and ſometimes with the pigeons.

Their loves commence about the end of March. Violence decides their choice: they continue as noiſy as ever; their twitter is in⯑ceſſant; and to ſing and toy ſeem then their ſole occupation. The care of the expected pro⯑geny ſucceeds; but they are not over-anxious in providing for the reception. They often take poſſeſſion of the neſt of a wood-pecker, which often retaliates in its turn. When they would conſtruct one for themſelves, they only heap a few dry leaves, ſome herbage or moſs, in the hole of a tree or of a wall. In this artleſs bed the female drops five or ſix eggs, of a greeniſh aſh-colour, and covers them for the ſpace of eighteen or twenty-one days. Some⯑times ſhe hatches in dove-cotes, in the roofs of dwelling-houſes, and even in the holes of rocks on the ſea-coaſt, as in the Iſle of Wight and [159] in other places^*. I have ſometimes received, in the month of May, neſts which were pretended to belong to the Stare, and to be found in trees; but as two of them reſemble exactly thoſe of the Thruſh, I ſuſpect that the perſons whom I em⯑ployed wanted to impoſe on me, unleſs we ſup⯑poſe that the Stare had diſpoſſeſſed the Thruſh, and occupied its place. In ſome caſes, however, they make their own neſts; a ſkilful obſerver told me, that he has ſeen ſeveral of them on the ſame tree. The young continue long with their mother, which would make me doubt the aſſertion of ſome authors^†, that the Stare hatches thrice a-year; except this relate to warm countries, where the progreſs of incubation and of growth is rapid.

The feathers of the Stares are in general long and narrow, as Belon deſcribes; their colour is at firſt of a blackiſh-brown, uniform, and without ſtreaks or reflections. The ſtreaks begin to ap⯑pear after the firſt moulting, emerging about the end of July, on the lower part of the body, then on the head, and towards the 20th of Auguſt, are ſpread over the upper part of the body. I always mean the young Stares, which were hatched in the beginning of May.

I have remarked, that in this firſt moulting, the feathers which ſurround the baſe of the [160] bill, dropped almoſt all at once, ſo that this part was bald during the month of July^*, as it happens conſtantly in the rook through the reſt of the year. I alſo obſerved that the bill was almoſt all yellow on the 15th of May; this ſoon changed into a horn colour, and Belon aſſures us, that in time it becomes orange.

In the males, the eyes have a larger ſhare of brown, or it is more uniform^†; the ſtreaks of the plumage more diſtinct and yellower; and the dark colour of the feathers which are not ſtreaked is brightened by more vivid re⯑flections, that vary between purple and deep green. Beſides, the male is larger, weighing three ounces and a half. Salerne adds, another diſtinguiſhed character of the ſex is, that the tongue is pointed in the male, but forked in the female. It would appear that Linnaeus had ſeen it pointed in ſome individuals, and forked in others^‡. In thoſe which came under my examination, it was forked.

The Stares live on ſnails, worms, and cater⯑pillars; eſpecially on thoſe large caterpillars of a [161] fine green, with reddiſh reflections, which ap⯑pear, in the month of June, upon the flowers, and chiefly upon the roſes. They feed alſo on wheat, buckwheat, millet, panic, hemp-ſeed, elder-berries, olives, cherries, raiſins, &c. It is pretended that the laſt is what corrects beſt the natural bitterneſs of their fleſh, and that cherries are what they are the fondeſt of^*; and theſe afford an almoſt infallible bait for weel-nets, which are laid among the reeds, where they retire in the evenings; and in this way an hundred may often be caught in one night: but this diverſion laſts no longer than the ſeaſon of cherries.

They are fond of following oxen and other large cattle as they feed in the meadows, at⯑tracted, it is ſaid, by the inſects which flutter round them, or by thoſe, perhaps, which ſwarm in their dung, or in meadows in general. From this habit is derived the German name Rinder-Staren. They are alſo accuſed of feeding on the carcaſſes that are expoſed on gibbets^†; but it is probably in ſearch only of inſects. I have raiſed ſome of theſe birds, and have obſerved, that when bits of raw fleſh were offered to [162] them, they fixed on the prey with great avidity. If they were preſented with the flower-cup of a pink, containing ſeed already formed, they did not graſp it with their claws, and pluck it like the jay, but ſhook it and ſtruck it againſt the bars in the bottom of the cage, till the grains dropped out. I remarked alſo, that they drank nearly like the gallinaceous tribe, and took great delight in bathing. It is probable that one of thoſe which I raiſed died of cold, in conſequence of bathing too often during the winter.

Theſe birds live ſeven or eight years, or even longer, in the domeſtic ſtate. The wild ones cannot be decoyed by the call, becauſe they re⯑gard not the ſcream of the owl. But beſides the contrivance of the limed threads and the weel-nets, which I have already mentioned, a method has been fallen on to take entire families, by fix⯑ing to the walls and the trees where they lodge pots of earthen ware of a convenient form, which the birds often prefer to place their neſts in^*. Many are alſo caught by the gin and draw-net. In ſome parts of Italy it is com⯑mon to employ tame weaſels to drag them out of their neſts, or rather their holes; for the ar⯑tifice of man conſiſts in employing one enſlaved race to extend his dominion over the reſt.

The Stares have the membrana nictitans; their noſtrils are half-ſheathed by a membrane; the [163] legs are of a reddiſh brown^*; the outer toe is connected to the mid one as far as the firſt pha⯑lanx; the hind nail is ſtronger than the reſt; the gizzard is preceded by a dilatation of the aeſophagus, is a little fleſhy, and contains ſome⯑times ſmall ſtones. The inteſtinal tube is twenty inches in length, from the one orifice to the other; the gall-bladder is of the ordinary ſize; the caeca very ſmall, and placed nearer the anus than is common in birds.

In diſſecting a young Stare, one of thoſe which I had raiſed, I remarked that the contents of the gizzard and of the inteſtines were entirely black, though it had been fed on bread and milk only. This circumſtance denotes an abundance of black bile; and at the ſame time accounts for the bitterneſs of the fleſh of theſe birds, and the uſe which has been made of their excrements in the preparation of coſmetics.

The Stare can be taught to ſpeak either French, German, Latin, Greek^†, &c. and to pronounce phraſes of ſome length. Its pliant throat ac⯑commodates itſelf to every inflexion and every accent. It can readily articulate the letter R^‡, [164] and acquires a ſort of warbling which is much ſuperior to its native ſong^*.

This bird is ſpread through an extenſive range in the ancient continent. It is found in Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, the Iſle of Malta, the Cape of Good Hope^†, and every where nearly the ſame; whereas thoſe American birds which have been called Stares, preſent a great diverſity of appearance. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, RELATED TO THE STARE.

The TROUPIALES.

THESE birds, as I have juſt obſerved, are nearly related to the European Stares, and often the vulgar and the naturaliſts have con⯑founded them. We may regard them as re⯑preſenting the Stares in the New World; their habits are the ſame, except in the mode of build⯑ing their neſts.

The American continent is the native region of theſe birds, and of all others that have been claſſed with them; ſuch as the Caſſics, the Balti⯑mores, the Bonanas, &c.; and though ſome are ſaid to belong to the Old World, theſe have re⯑ally been brought from the New World; for in⯑ſtance, probably, the Troupiale of Senegal, called the Cape-More ^*, the Bonana of the Cape of Good Hope, and all the pretended Troupiales of Madras.

I ſhall exclude from the genus of the Troupi⯑ales, 1. The four ſpecies brought from Madras, and which Briſſon has borrowed from Ray; becauſe the law of climate will not admit the ſuppoſition, and the deſcriptions are not deci⯑ſive, and the figures ſo ill executed, that they might as well be taken for magpies, jays, black-birds, loriots, and gobe-mouches, &c.

[176] A ſkilful ornithologiſt (Mr. Edwards) is of opinion, that the yellow jay and the chop jay of Petiver, which Briſſon has made his ſixth and his fourth Troupiale, are only the male and fe⯑male loriot; and that the variegated jay of Ma⯑dras of the ſame Petiver, which is the fifth Troupiale of Briſſon, is his yellow Indian Stare; and laſtly, that the creſted Troupiale of Madras, which is Briſſon's ſeventh ſpecies, is the ſame bird with the creſted gobe-mouche of the Cape of Good Hope of the ſame Briſſon^*.

2. I ſhall exclude the Bengal Troupiale, which is Briſſon's ninth ſpecies, ſince that au⯑thor has himſelf perceived that it is his ſecond of the Stare.

3. I ſhall exclude the Forked-tail Troupiale, which is the ſixth of Briſſon, and the Thruſh of Seba. All that the latter ſays is, that it is much larger than the thruſh; that its plumage is black, its bill yellow, the under ſurface of its tail white, the upper and its back ſhaded by a light tint of blue; that its tail is long, broad, and forked; and laſtly, that, excepting the difference in the ſhape of its tail, and in its bulk, it is much like the European thruſh. But in all this, I can perceive nothing that relates to a Troupiale; and the figure given by Seba, and which Briſſon rec⯑kons [177] a very bad one, no more reſembles a Trou⯑piale than it does a Thruſh.

4. I ſhall exclude the Blue Bonana of Ma⯑dras, becauſe, on the one hand, it is inconſiſtent with the law of the climate, and on the other, the figure and deſcription of Ray have nothing which would characteriſe the Bonana, not even the plumage. According to that author, its head, tail, and wings are blue, but the tail of a brighter tinge; the reſt of the plumage black or cinereous, except the bill and the feet, which are ruſty.

5. Laſtly, I ſhall exclude the India Troupiale, not only on account of the difference of climate, but for other ſtronger reaſons, which before in⯑duced me to place it between the Rollers and the Birds of Paradiſe.

Though we have ranged along with the Troupiales, the Caſſies, the Baltimores, and the Bonanas, theſe, as they have received ſeparate names, are diſtinguiſhed by differences that are ſufficiently important to form ſmall ſubordinate genera. I am able, from the compariſon of a number of theſe birds, to aſſert that the Caſſies have the ſtrongeſt bill, next to them the Trou⯑piales, and then the Bonanas. With reſpect to the Baltimores, their bill is not only ſmaller than in the reſt, but it is ſtraighter, and of a peculiar ſhape. They ſeem alſo to have different in⯑ſtincts; I therefore retain their proper names, and treat of each ſeparately.

[178] The common characters which Briſſon aſ⯑cribes to them are the naked noſtrils, and the elongated conical form of the bill. I have al⯑ready obſerved that the upper mandible extends over the cranium, or that the tuft, inſtead of making a point, makes a conſiderable re-entrant⯑angle; a circumſtance which ſometimes occurs in other ſpecies, but is moſt remarkable in the preſent.

The TROUPIALE ^*.
• Oriolus Ictericus, Gmel. , • Icterus, Briſſ. , • Coracias Xanthornus, Scop. , • The Yellow and Black Pye, Cateſby. , • The Banana Bird from Jamaica, Albin. , and • The Icteric Oriole, Lath. 

The feet and nails are ſometimes black, ſome⯑times of a leaden colour. The bill ſeems to have no conſtant colour, for it has been obſerved to be in ſome white gray^†, in others brown cine⯑reous above^‡, and blue below; and laſtly, in others black above, and brown below^§.

This bird is nine or ten inches long from the point of the bill to the end of the tail; and, ac⯑cording to Marcgrave, its wings extend fourteen inches, and its head is very ſmall. It is diſperſed through the region lying between Carolina and Brazil, and through the Caribbean iſlands. It is of the bulk of a blackbird; it hops like the magpie, and has many of its geſtures, according to Sloane. It has even, according to Marcgrave, the ſame cries; but Albin aſſerts that in all its actions it reſembles the Stare; and adds, that ſometimes four or five unite to attack a larger bird, which, after they have killed, they devour [180] orderly, each maintaining his rank. Sloane, an author worthy of credit, ſays, that the Trou⯑piales live on inſects. Yet there is no abſolute contradiction; for every animal which feeds on the ſmalleſt reptile is rapacious, and would feed on larger animals if it could do it with ſafety.

Theſe birds muſt be of a very ſocial diſpoſi⯑tion, ſince love, which divides ſo many other ſocieties, ſeems on the contrary to knit theirs more cloſely together. They do not ſeparate to accompliſh in retirement and ſecrecy the views of nature; a great many pairs are ſeen on the ſame tree, which is almoſt always lofty and ſequeſ⯑tered, conſtructing their neſt, laying their eggs, hatching and cheriſhing their infant brood.

Theſe neſts are of a cylindrical form, ſuſ⯑pended from the extremity of high branches, and waving freely in the air; ſo that the young are continually rocked. But ſome who believe that the birds act from deliberation, aſſert that the parents hang their neſt to avoid the attack of certain land animals, and eſpecially ſerpents.

The Troupiale is alſo reckoned very docile, and eaſily ſubjected to domeſtic ſlavery; which pro⯑penſity almoſt always attends a ſocial temper^*

The ACOLCHI of SEBA ^*.
• Oriolus Novae Hiſpaniae, Gmel. , • Icterus Mexicanus, Briſſ. , and • The Mexican Oriole, Lath. 

Seba, having found this name in Fernandez, has, according to his way, applied it arbi⯑trarily to a bird entirely different from the one meant by that author, at leaſt with regard to its plumage; and he has again aſcribed to the ſame bird what Fernandez has ſaid of the true Acolchi, which the Spaniards call Tordo, or Stare.

This falſe Acolchi of Seba has a long yellow bill; its head is all black, and alſo its throat; the tail and wings are blackiſh, and theſe are or⯑namented with ſmall feathers of a golden colour, which have a fine effect on the dark ground.

Seba reckons his Acolchi an American bird, and I know not for what reaſon Briſſon, who quotes no authority but Seba, ſubjoins that it is moſt common in Mexico. It is certain that the word Acolchi is Mexican, but we are not war⯑ranted to conclude the ſame thing of the bird on which Seba beſtows it^†

The RING-TAILED ORIOLE, Lath.
• L'Arc-en Queue, Buff. , • Oriolus Annulatus, Gmel. , • Icterus Caudâ Annulatâ, Briſſ. , and • Cornix Flava, Klein. 

Fernandez gives the name of Oziniſcan to two birds which bear no reſemblance; and Seba has taken the freedom to apply the ſame name to a third entirely different from either, except in ſize, which is that of the pigeon.

The third Oziniſcan is the Ring-tail (Arc-en-Queue) of this article. I give it this name on account of a black arch or creſcent with its con⯑cavity turned towards the head, which appears diſtinctly on the tail when ſpread, and the more remarkable, as this is of a fine yellow colour, which is alſo that of the bill and of the whole body; the head and neck are black, and the wings of the ſame colour, with a ſlight tint of yellow.

Seba adds, that he received many of theſe birds from America, where they are looked upon as ravenous. perhaps their habits are the ſame with thoſe of our Troupiales; the figure which Seba gives has a bill ſomewhat hooked near the point^*.

The JAPACANI ^*.
• Oriolus Japacani, Gmel. , and • Luſcinia pullo-lutea, Klein. 

Sloane conſiders his Little Yellow and Brown Fly-catcher as the ſame with the Japacani of Marcgrave; but beſides the differ⯑ences of the plumage, the Japacani is eight times larger, each dimenſion being double; for Sloane's bird is only four inches long, and ſeven over the wings, while Marcgrave's is of the bulk of the Bemptère, which is equal to that of the Stare, whoſe extreme length is ſeven inches, and its alar extent fourteen. It would be difficult to refer to the ſame ſpecies two birds, eſpecially two wild birds, ſo widely different.

The Japacani has a long pointed black bill, a little curved; its head is blackiſh, its iris of a gold colour; the hind part of its neck, its back, its wings, and its rump, are variegated with black and light brown; its tail is blackiſh below, and marked with white above; its breaſt, its belly, its legs are variegated with yellow and white, with blackiſh tranſverſe lines; its feet brown, its nails black and pointed^†.

[184] Sloane's little bird^* has a round bill, almoſt ſtraight, and half an inch long; the head and back are of a light brown, with ſome black ſpots; the tail eighteen inches long, and of a brown colour, as alſo the wings, which have a little white at their tips. The orbits, the throat, the ſides of the neck, the coverts of the tail, yel⯑low; the breaſt of the ſame colour, but with brown marks; the belly white; the legs brown, about fifteen lines long, and yellow in the toes.

This bird is common in St. Jago, once the capital of Jamaica; it lodges generally in the buſhes. Its ſtomach is very muſcular, and lined with a thin, looſe, inſenſible membrane. Sloane found nothing in the gizzard of the individual which he diffected, but he obſerved that the in⯑teſtines made a great number of circumvolutions.

The ſame author mentions a variety, which differs only becauſe it has leſs yellow in its plumage.

This bird may be reckoned a Troupiale, on account of the form of its bill; but it is cer⯑tainly different from the Japacani^†.

The XOCHITOL and the COSTOTOL.
• Oriolus Coſtototl, Gmel. , and • The New Spain Oriole, Lath. 

Briſſon makes the Xochitol of Fernandez the tenth ſpecies of his Troupiale of New Spain, and which the Spaniſh naturaliſt conſiders as only the adult Coſtotol. But he takes notice of two Coſtotols, which are pretty much alike; but if they differ in ſome degree, we muſt refer what Fernandez ſays here to the Coſtotol of Chap. xxviii.

If we compare the deſcription of the Xochitol of Chap. cxxii. to that of Chap. xxviii. we ſhall meet with contradictions which it will be diffi⯑cult to reconcile; for is it poſſible that the Coſ⯑totol, which when ſo much grown as to be able to ſing is only of the ſize of a Canary bird, ſhould afterwards acquire the bulk of a Stare? that when young it has the ſweet warble of the Goldfinch, but after it is adult, and received the name of the Xochitol, it ſhould have the diſ⯑agreeable chatter of the Magpie? But wide dif⯑ferences alſo occur in the plumage; in the Coſ⯑totol, the head and the under part of the body are yellow, while in the Xochitol they are black: in the former, the wings are yellow [186] tipped with black; in the latter, they are va⯑riegated with black and white above, and cine⯑reous below, without a ſingle yellow feather.

But all theſe contradictions will vaniſh, if, inſtead of the Xochitol of Chap. cxxii. we ſub⯑ſtitute the Xochitol or Flowery bird of Chap. cxxv. The ſize is nearly the ſame, being that of the Sparrow; its warble is pleaſant, like that of the Coſtotol, the yellow of which is mingled with other colours that variegate the plumage of the former: they are both an agreeable food. The Xochitol reſembles in two circumſtances the Troupiales; it lives upon inſects and ſeeds, and hangs its neſt from the ends of ſmall branches. The only difference which can be remarked be⯑tween the Xochitol of Chap. cxxv. and the Coſtotol, is, that the latter is found in warm countries only, while the former inhabits all cli⯑mates without diſtinction. But is it not likely that Xochitols go to breed in warm countries, where their young, or the Coſtotols, remain till they are grown up, or are Xochitols, and able to accompany their parents into colder climates? In the Coſtotol, the plumage is yellow, as I have ſaid, and the tips of the wings black; and in the Xochitol of Chap. cxxv. the plumage is va⯑riegated with pale yellow, brown, white, and blackiſh.

Briſſon has indeed made the latter his firſt carouge; but as it ſuſpends its neſt like the Troupiales, we have a deciſive reaſon to range [187] it with theſe; except we reckon as another Troupiale the Xochitol of Chap. cxxii. of Fer⯑nandez, which is of the ſize of a Stare; its breaſt, belly, and tail of a ſaffron colour, vari⯑egated with a little black; its wings variegated with black and white below and cinereous above; its head, and the reſt of its body, black; it has the chatter of the Magpie, and its fleſh is good eating.

The TOCOLIN ^*
• Oriolus Cinereus, Gmel. , • Icterus Cinereus, Briſſ. , and • The Gray Oriole, Lath. 

Fernandez conſidered this bird as a Wood-pecker, on account of its long and pointed bill; but this character belongs alſo to the Trou⯑piales, nor can I perceive in the deſcription of Fernandez any other diſcriminating qualities of the Wood-peckers. I ſhall therefore leave it among the Troupiales, where Briſſon has placed it.

It is of the bulk of a Stare; it lives in the woods, and neſtles on trees. Its plumage is [188] beautifully variegated with yellow and black, excepting the back, the belly, and the feet, which are cinereous.

The Tocolin is deſtitute of ſong, but its fleſh is good; it inhabits Mexico^*.

The COMMANDER.
• Oriolus Phoeniceus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Icterus Pterophoeniceus, Briſſ. , • The Scarlet-feathered Indian Bird, Will. , • The Red-winged Starling, Cateſby, Alb. and Kalm. , and • The Red-winged Oriole, Penn. and Lath. 

This is the true Acolchi of Fernandez. It is called the Commander^†, on account of a fine red mark on the anterior part of its wings, which in ſome meaſure reſembles the badge of the order of knighthood. The effect is here the more ſtriking, as it is thrown upon a ground of ſhining gloſſy black; for that is the general colour not only of its plumage, but of its bill, feet, and nails. There are, however, ſome ſlight exceptions; the iris is white, and the baſe of the bill is encircled by a narrow ring of red; the [189] bill alſo inclines ſometimes to brown rather than black, according to Albin. But the real colour of the mark on the wings is not a pure red, ac⯑cording to Fernandez, but is tarniſhed with a rufous tint, which increaſes and becomes at laſt the predominant colour. Theſe ſometimes ſe⯑parate, the red occupying the anterior and the more elevated part of the ſpot; yellow, the poſ⯑terior and lower. But is this true with regard to all the individuals, or has not that been aſcribed to the whole ſpecies which is applicable only to the females? We are certain that in theſe the ſpot on the wings is not of ſo bright a red; beſides that diſtinction, the black of their plumage is mixed with gray, and they are ſmaller.

The Red-Wing is nearly of the ſize and ſhape of the Stare; its extreme length is eight or nine inches, and its alar extent thirteen or fourteen; it weighs three ounces and a half.

Theſe birds inhabit the cold as well as the warm countries: They are found in Virginia, Carolina, Louiſiana, Mexico, &c. They are pe⯑culiar to the New World, though one was killed in the environs of London; but this had doubt⯑leſs eſcaped from its cage. They can be eaſily tamed, and taught to ſpeak; and they are fond of ſinging and playing, whether they be con⯑fined, or allowed to run through the houſe; for they are very familiar and lively.

[190] The one killed near London was opened; in its ſtomach were found caterpillars, beetles, and maggots. But in America they feed on wheat, maize, &c. and are very deſtructive. They fly in numerous flocks, and, like the Stares of Eu⯑rope, joining other birds equally deſtructive, as the Jamaica Magpies, they pour their fa⯑miſhed ſquadrons on the ſtanding crops and ſown fields; but the havock which they commit is by far greateſt in the warm regions, and near the ſea-coaſt.

When the planters fire on theſe combined flocks, birds fall of different kinds, and before the piece can be again charged, another flight arrives.

Cateſby informs us, that in Carolina and Vir⯑ginia they always breed among the ruſhes; they interweave the points of theſe ſo as to form a ſort of roof or ſhed, under which they build their neſt, and at ſo proper a height that it can never be reached by the higheſt floods. This conſtruction is very different from that of our firſt Troupiale, and ſhews a different inſtinct, and therefore proves that it is a diſtinct ſpecies.

Fernandez pretends that they neſtle on the trees near the plantations: Has this ſpecies dif⯑ferent cuſtoms accommodated to the different countries where it is found?

The Red-Wings appear in Louiſiana in the winter only, but they are then ſo numerous that three hundred have been ſometimes caught in a [191] ſingle draw of the net. For this purpoſe is uſed a long and very narrow net of ſilk, in two parts, like that for larks. ‘When they intend to ſpread it,’ ſays Le Page Dupratz, ‘they clear a place near the wood, and make a kind of path, which is ſmooth and beaten, on which they ſtrew a train of rice or other grain, and retire to conceal themſelves behind a buſh where the drag-cord is brought. When the flocks of Red-Wings paſs over the ſpot, they quickly deſcry the bait, light, and are caught in an inſtant. It is neceſſary to diſpatch them, it being impoſſible to collect ſo many alive.’

But they are deſtroyed chiefly as being per⯑nicious birds, for though they ſometimes grow very fat, their fleſh is always indifferent eating; another point of reſemblance to the Stares of Europe.

I have ſeen at Abbé Aubri's a variety of this ſpecies, in which the head and the upper part of the neck was of a light fulvous colour. The reſt of its plumage was the ſame as uſual. This firſt variety ſeems to ſhew that the bird repre⯑ſented in the Planches Enluminées, No. 343, by the name of Cayenne Carouge, is a ſecond, which differs from the firſt in wanting the red ſpots on the wings only; for the reſt of its plumage is exactly the ſame; the ſize is nearly alike, and the ſame proportions take place; and the dif⯑ference between the climates is not ſo great, but [192] that we may ſuppoſe a bird could be equally re⯑conciled to both.

We need only compare No. 402, and Fig. 2, No. 236, of the Planches Enluminées, to be con⯑vinced that the bird engraved in the latter un⯑der the name of Cayenne Troupiale, is only a ſecond variety of the ſpecies of No. 402, under the name of Red-winged Troupiales of Louiſiana, which is the ſubject of the preſent article. It is nearly the ſame in ſize, ſhape, and in the kind and diſtribution of the colours; except that in No. 236, the red tinges not only the an⯑terior part of the wings, but is ſpread over the throat, the origin of the neck, a portion of the belly, and even the iris.

If we next compare this bird, No. 236, with the one repreſented, No. 536, under the name of Guiana Troupiale, we ſhall perceive that the latter is a variety of the former, ariſing from the difference of age or ſex. All the colours are fainter; the red feathers are edged with white, and the black or blackiſh with light gray; ſo that the figure of each feather is diſtinctly marked, and the bird looks as if it were covered with ſcales. But the diſtribution of the colours is the ſame, the bulk the ſame, the climate the ſame, &c. It is impoſſible to diſcover ſo many relations ſubſiſting between birds of different ſpecies.

[193] I am informed that theſe frequent the Savan⯑nas, in the iſland of Cayenne, and commonly lodge in the buſhes, and that ſome people give them the name of Cardinal ^*.

The BLACK TROUPIALE.
• Oriolus Niger, Gmel. , • Icterus Niger, Briſſ. , • Cornix parva profunde nigra, Klein. , and • The Black Oriole, Penn. and Lath. 

The dark colour of this bird has procured it the names of Crow, Blackbird, and Daw.—But this is not ſo deep nor ſo uniform as has been alleged; the plumage in certain poſitions is of a black, changing with greeniſh reflexions, eſpe⯑cially on the head, the upper part of the body, the tail, and the wings.

It is of the ſize of a Blackbird, being ten inches long, and fifteen or ſixteen acroſs the [194] wings, which when cloſed reach to the middle of the tail; this is four inches and a half in length, tapered, and conſiſting of twelve quills. The bill is more than an inch, and the mid-toe is longer than the leg, or rather the tarſus.

This bird is ſettled in St. Domingo, and is very common in ſome parts of Jamaica, particularly between Spaniſh-town and Paſſage-fort. Its ſtomach is muſcular, and generally contains ca⯑terpillars and other inſects^*.

The Little BLACK TROUPIALE.
• Oriolus Minor, Gmel. , and • The Leſſer Black Oriole, Lath. 

I have ſeen another Black Troupiale from America, but much ſmaller, and even in⯑ferior to the Red-wing Thruſh in ſize: It was ſix or ſeven inches long, and its tail, which was ſquare, only two inches and a half, and extend⯑ed an inch beyond the wings.

[195] The plumage was entirely black, but more gloſſy and floating with bluiſh reflexions on the head and the contiguous parts. It is ſaid that this bird can be eaſily tamed, and taught to live familiarly in the houſe.

The bird of No. 606, Planches Enlumineés, is probably the female of this; for it is entirely of a black or blackiſh colour, except the head and the tail, which are of a lighter tint, as is commonly the caſe in females. We alſo per⯑ceive the bluiſh reflexions which were remarked in the plumage of the male; but theſe appear not on the feathers of the head, but on thoſe of the tail and the wings.

No naturaliſt has, I apprehend, taken notice of this ſpecies^*.

The BLACK-CAPPED TROU⯑PIALE.
• Le Troupiale a Calotte Noire, Buff. , • Oriolus Mexicanus, Gmel. , and • The Black-crowned Oriole, Lath. 

This bird appears to be entirely the ſame ſpecies with Briſſon's Brown Troupiale of New Spain. To form an idea of its plumage, [196] imagine a bird of a fine yellow, with a black cap and mantle. The tail is of the ſame colour, and ſpotleſs; but the black on the wings is ſome-what interrupted by the white which borders the coverts, and again appears on the tips of the quills. Its bill is of a light-gray, with an orange tinge, and the legs are cheſnut.—It is found in Mexico, and in the iſland of Cayenne^*.

The SPOTTED TROUPIALE of Cayenne.
• Oriolus Melancholicus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Anthornus Naevius, Briſſ. , and • The Schomburger, Edw. and Lath. 

The ſpots which occur in this ſmall Trou⯑piale are owing to this circumſtance, that almoſt all the feathers, which are brown or blackiſh in the middle, are edged with yellow, more or leſs inclined to orange on the wings, the tail, and the lower part of the body. The throat is of a pure white; a ſtreak of the ſame colour which paſſes cloſe under the eye ſtretches back between two parallel black ſtreaks, one of which accompanies the white above, and the other bends round the eye below; the iris is of [197] a bright orange, almoſt red:—All theſe give a lively appearance to the male; for though the iris is orange alſo in the female, its plumage is of a tarniſhed yellow, which, mingling with a pale white, produces an unpleaſant uniformity.

The bill is thick and pointed, as in the Trou⯑piales, and cinereous; the legs are fleſh-colour⯑ed. Its proportion may be conceived from the figure.

The ſpotted Carouge of Briſſon, which in many reſpects reſembles the Troupiale of this article, differs from it in ſeveral important cir⯑cumſtances. It is not half the ſize, its hind nail is longer, its iris is hazel, its bill fleſh-coloured, its throat, and the ſides of its neck, black; and laſtly, the belly, the legs above and below the tail are without a ſingle ſpot.

Edwards heſitated to which of two ſpecies he ſhould refer it; to the Thruſh, or to the Or⯑tolan. Klein decides very readily, that it be⯑longs to neither, but to the Chaffinch; yet not⯑withſtanding his deciſion, the ſhape of its bill, and the identity of the climate, determine me to adopt the opinion of Briſſon, who makes it a Carouge^*.

The OLIVE TROUPIALE of Cayenne.
• Oriolus Olivaceus, Gmel. , and • The Cayenne Olive Oriole, Lath. 

This bird is only ſix or ſeven inches long. It owes its name to the olive colour which prevails on the hind part of its neck, its back, its tail, its belly, and the coverts of its wings. But this colour is not uniform; it is darker on the neck, the back, and the adjacent coverts of the wings, and ſomewhat leſs ſo on the tail; it is much lighter under the tail, and alſo on a great part of the coverts of the wings, which are furtheſt from the back; with this difference between the large and the ſmall ſort, that the latter have no mixture of colour, while the former are variegated with brown. The head, the throat, the fore-part of the neck and the breaſt, are of a gloſſy brown, deeper under the throat, and inclining to orange on the breaſt, and running into the olive colour of the lower part of the body. The bill and legs are black; the wing-quills, and the large coverts neareſt the outer edge, are of the ſame colour, but bordered with white.

[199] The ſhape of its bill is the ſame as that of the other Troupiales; its tail is long, and its wings when cloſed do not reach the third of the length^*.

The WEAVER ORIOLE.
• Le Cap-More ^†, Buff. , and • Oriolus Textor, Gmel. 

The two birds figured No. 375 and 376, Pl. Enl. were brought by the captain of a ſhip who had collected forty birds from dif⯑ferent countries, Senegal, Madagaſcar, &c. and who had called them Senegal Chaffinches. They have been termed Senegal Troupiales; but that appellation ſeems very improper; for the cli⯑mate is different from that of the Troupiales, and the Weaver is widely diſtinguiſhed by the proportions of its bill, tail, and wings, and the manner in which it builds its neſt. It is perhaps the African repreſentative of the Ame⯑rican ſpecies. The two which we have men⯑tioned belonged to a lady of high rank, who al⯑lowed [200] them to be deſigned at her houſe, and has obligingly communicated ſome particulars that occurred with regard to the way in which they conducted themſelves. This is the only ſource of information which we have.

The eldeſt had a kind of cowl which appear⯑ed of a brown-gold gloſs in the ſun; this cowl diſappeared in the moulting during the au⯑tumn, leaving the head of a yellow colour; but it again returned in the ſpring, and was con⯑ſtantly renewed the ſucceeding years. The chief colour of the reſt of the body was yellow, more or leſs inclined to orange; this was the predominant colour on the back, and on the lower part of the body; it bordered the coverts of the wings, their quills, and thoſe of the tail, which were all of a blackiſh ground.

The young one had no cowl till the end of the ſecond year, and did not even change its colours before that time; which occaſioned its being miſtaken for a female, and deſigned as ſuch, No. 376. This miſtake was excuſable, ſince the diſtinction of ſexes is not apparent during infancy, and one of the principal cha⯑racters of the females is that of preſerving long the marks of youth.

Before the change which took place in the colours of its plumage, the yellow was of a lighter tint than in the old one; it ſpread over the throat, the neck, the breaſt, and bordered, as in the other, all the quills of the tail and of [201] the wings. The back was of an olive-brown, which extended beyond the neck as far as the head. In both the iris was orange, the bill of a horn colour, thicker and ſhorter than in the Troupiale, and the legs reddiſh.

Theſe two birds lived in the ſame cage, and at firſt upon good terms with each other; the young one ſat generally on the higheſt bar, holding its bill cloſe to the other, which it an⯑ſwered, by clapping its wings, and with a ſub⯑miſſive air.

They were obſerved in the ſpring to inter-weave chickweed in the grating of their cage; this was therefore conceived as an indication of their deſire to neſtle. They were ſupplied with ſmall ruſhes, and they built a neſt ſo capacious as to conceal one of them entirely. The fol⯑lowing year they renewed their labour; but the young one being new clothed in the plum⯑age of its ſex, was driven off by the other, and obliged to conduct its work alone in another corner of the cage. But it was ſtill perſecuted, and notwithſtanding its ſubmiſſive behaviour, it was often ſo roughly treated as to be left in⯑ſenſible. They were ſeparated, and each was intent on building; but the labours of one day were often deſtroyed in the ſucceeding—A neſt is not the production of an individual.

They had both a ſingular kind of ſong, ſome⯑what ſhrill, but very ſprightly. The old one died ſuddenly, and the young one was cut off [202] by epileptic ſits. Their ſize was rather inferior to that of our firſt Troupiale; and their wings and tail were alſo proportionably ſhorter^*.

The WHISTLER.
• Oriolus Viridis, Gmel. , • Icterus minus Viridis, Briſſ. , and • The Whiſtler Oriole, Lath. 

I ſee no reaſon why Briſſon has reckoned this bird a Baltimore, for both in the ſhape of its bill and in the proportions of its tarſus it ſeems more related to the Troupiales. But I leave the matter undecided, placing it between the Trou⯑piales and Baltimores, and applying the vulgar name which it receives in St. Domingo, on ac⯑count of its ſhrill notes.

This bird is in general brown above, except the rump and the ſmall coverts of the wings, which are of a greeniſh yellow, as alſo in the whole under-part of the body; but this colour is duſky below the throat, and variegated with ruſty on the neck and breaſt; the great coverts and the quills of the wings, as well as the twelve of the tail, are edged with yellow. But to form [203] an accurate idea of the plumage of the Whiſtler, we muſt imagine an olive tint of various in⯑tenſity ſpread over all the colours without ex⯑ception. To characterize the predominant co⯑lour of the plumage of this bird, therefore, we ought to take olive and not green, as Briſſon has done.

The Whiſtler is of the ſize of a Chaffinch; it is about ſeven inches long, and ten or twelve inches acroſs the wings; the tail, which is un⯑equally tapered, is three inches in length, and the bill nine or ten lines.

The BALTIMORE.
• Oriolus Baltimore, Linn. and Gmel. , • Icterus Minor, Briſſ. , • Icterus ex auro nigroque varius, Klein. , and • The Baltimore Bird, Cateſby, Penn. and Lath. 

This bird owes its name to ſome reſemblance that is perceived between the nature and diſtri⯑bution of the colours of its plumage, and the arms of Lord Baltimore^*. It is a ſmall bird of the ſize of a houſe Sparrow, and weighing little more than an ounce; its length is ſix or ſeven inches, its alar extent eleven or twelve, its tail compoſed of twelve quills, and two or three [204] inches long, ſtretching more than a half beyond the wings when cloſed. A ſort of cowl of a fine black covers the head, and deſcends before upon the throat, and behind as far as the ſhoul⯑ders: the great coverts and the quills of the wings are alſo black, like thoſe of the tail; but the former are edged with white, and the latter tipped with orange, which is the broader the farther they are from the mid-ones, in which it is wanting. The reſt of the plumage is of a beautiful orange; and laſtly, the bill and legs are of a lead colour.

In the female, which I examined in the Royal Cabinet, all the fore-part was of a fine black, as in the male, the tail of the ſame co⯑lour, the great coverts and the wing-quills black⯑iſh, the whole without any mixture of other colour; and what was ſo beautiful an orange in the male, was only a dirty red in the female.

I have already ſaid, that the bill of the Balti⯑mores was not only proportionably ſhorter and ſtraighter than in the Carouges, the Troupiales, and the Caſſiques, but of a peculiar ſhape: It is a pyramid of five ſides, two belonging to the upper mandible, and three to the lower. I ſhall add, that its leg, or rather its tarſus, is more ſlender than in the Carouges and Troupiales.

The Baltimores diſappear in the winter, at leaſt in Virginia and Maryland, where Cateſby obſerved them. They are alſo found in Canada, but Cateſby met with none in Carolina.

[205] They build their neſts on large trees, ſuch as the poplars, the tulip trees^*, &c. They fix it to the end of a thick branch, and commonly ſupport it by two ſmall ſhoots which enter its ſides; in which circumſtance the neſts of the Baltimores ſeem to reſemble thoſe of the Lo⯑riots^†.

The BASTARD BALTIMORE.
• Oriolus Spurius, Gmel. , • Icterus Minor Spurius, Briſſ. , and • Tardus Minor gutture nigro, Klein. 

This bird was no doubt ſo called becauſe the colours of its plumage are not ſo lively as in the Baltimore, and for this reaſon it may be con⯑ſidered as a degraded race. In fact, when we compare theſe birds, and find an exact corre⯑ſpondence in every thing, except in the colours, and not even in the diſtribution of theſe, but only in the different tints which they aſſume; [206] we cannot heſitate to infer that the Baſtard Bal⯑timore is a variety of a more generous race, de⯑generated by the influence of climate, or ſome other accidental cauſe. The black on the head is ſomewhat mottled, that of the throat pure; that part of the hood which falls behind is of an olive gray, which becomes darker as it ap⯑proaches the back. Whatever in the preceding was bright orange, is in the preſent yellow, bor⯑dering on orange, and more vivid on the breaſt and the coverts of the tail than on any other place. The wings are brown, but their great coverts and their quills are of a dirty white. Of the twelve tail quills, the two central ones are blackiſh near their middle, olive at their origin, and yellow at their extremity; the next one on either ſide ſhews the two firſt colours mixed con⯑fuſedly; and in the four following quills, the two laſt colours are melted together. In a word, the true Baltimore bears the ſame relation to the baſtard one in reſpect to the colours of the plum⯑age, that the latter bears to its female; in which the upper-part of the body is of a duſky white, and the under of a yellowiſh white. ^A

The YELLOW CASSIQUE of Brazil, or, the YAPOU.
• Oriolus Perſicus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Caſſicus Luteus, Briſſ. , and • The Black and Yellow Oriole, Lath. ^* 

When we compare the Caſſiques with the Troupiales, the Carouges, and the Baltimores, all which have many common properties, we perceive that they are larger, that their bill is ſtronger, and their legs proportionably ſhorter; not to mention the difference in the general ap⯑pearance which it would be difficult to deſcribe.

Several authors have given figures and de⯑ſcriptions of the Yellow Caſſique under dif⯑ferent names, and ſcarcely two of theſe exactly correſpond.—But before we proceed to conſider the varieties in detail, it will be proper to ſepa⯑rate a bird, the characters of which ſeem to be widely diſtant from thoſe of the Yellow Caſſique of Brazil: It is the Perſian Magpie of Aldro⯑vandus. That naturaliſt deſcribes it merely from a drawing, which had been ſent from Ve⯑nice. He reckons it to be of the ſize of our Magpie. Its predominant colour is not black, [208] but only duſkiſh (ſubfuſcum): Its bill is very thick, ſomewhat ſhort (breviuſculum) and whit⯑iſh; its eyes white, and its nails ſmall; whereas the Yapou is ſcarcely larger than a Blackbird, and the dark part of its plumage is jet black; its bill is pretty long, of the colour of ſulphur; its iris is like ſapphire, and its nails of conſider⯑able ſtrength, according to Edwards, and even very ſtrong and hooked, according to Belon. We cannot doubt that birds ſo diſtinct belong to different ſpecies; eſpecially if Aldrovandus's in⯑formation be true, that his bird is a native of Perſia, for we are certain that the Yapou is American.

The principal colours of the Yapou are con⯑ſtantly black and yellow, but the diſtribution is not uniformly the ſame, and varies in different individuals.—The one, for inſtance, which we have cauſed to be deſigned is entirely black, ex⯑cept the bill and the iris, as we have ſaid, and the great coverts of the wings neareſt the body, which are yellow, as alſo all the hind-part of the body, both above and below, from the thighs incluſively as far as the middle of the tail, and even beyond it.—In another, which was brought from Cayenne and lodged in the Royal Cabinet, and which is larger than the preceding, there is leſs yellow on the wings, and none at all on the lower part of the thigh, and the legs appear pro⯑portionably ſtronger:—it is probably a male.—In the Black and White Pye of Edwards, which [209] is evidently the ſame bird with ours, there is on four or five of the yellow coverts of the wings a black ſpot near their extremity; and beſides this, the black has purple reflexions, and the bird is rather larger.—In the Yapou or Jupujuba of Marcgrave, the tail is mottled with black and white only below, for its upper ſurface is en⯑tirely black, except the outmoſt feather on each ſide, which is yellow half its length.

It follows, therefore, that the colours of the plumage are by no means fixed and invariable in this ſpecies, which inclines me to believe with Marcgrave^*, that the bird which Briſſon calls the Red Caſſique, is only a variety of the ſame.—I ſhall afterwards ſtate my reaſons^†.

The CAROUGE.
• Oriolus Bonana, Linn. and Gmel. , • Xanthornus, Briſſ. ^* , • Turdus Minor Varius, Klein. , and • The Bonana Bird, Brown and Lath. 

In general the Bonanas are ſmaller, and have a ſlenderer bill in proportion than the Troupi⯑ales. The ſubject of this article has its plumage painted with three colours, applied in large bo⯑dies.—Theſe are, 1. Reddiſh-brown, which is ſpread over all the fore-part of the bird, on the head, the neck, and the breaſt. 2. A velvet black on the back, the feathers of the tail, thoſe of the wings, and their great coverts, and even on the bill and the legs. 3. Deep orange on the ſmall coverts of the wings, the rump, and the coverts of the tail. All theſe colours are more obſcure in the female.

The length of the Bonana is ſeven inches, that of its bill ſix lines, that of its tail above three inches; its wings when ſpread meaſure eleven inches, and when cloſed extend to the middle of the tail, or beyond it. This bird was brought from Martinico; that of Cayenne [215] (Fig. 1. No. 607, Pl. Enl.) is ſmaller, and the ſort of cowl which covers its head, neck, &c. is black, ſprinkled with ſome ſmall white ſpots on the ſides of the neck, and little reddiſh ſtreaks on the back; and laſtly, the great coverts and the middle feathers of the wings are edged with white. But theſe differences are, I conceive, too inconſiderable to prevent our ſuppoſing the Cayenne Bonana a variety of that of Martinico. They conſtruct a curious kind of neſt, reſem⯑bling the quarter of a hollow globe; and few it under the leaf of a Bonana, which ſhelters the neſt, and forms a part of it; the reſt conſiſts of the fibres of the leaves.

In what has been ſaid, it would be difficult to recogniſe the Spaniſh Nightingale of Sloane^*; for that bird is in every reſpect ſmaller than the Bonana, being only ſix Engliſh inches in length, and nine acroſs the wings; its plumage is dif⯑ferent, and it conſtructs its neſt in another mode. It is a ſort of bag, ſuſpended from the extremity of ſmall branches by a thread which they ſpin out of a ſubſtance that they extract from a pa⯑raſite plant, called old man's beard, which many have miſtaken for horſe-hair. In Sloane's bird the baſe of the bill was whitiſh, and encircled by a black ring; the crown of the head, the neck, the back, and the tail, were of a light [216] brown, or rather reddiſh gray; the wings of a deeper brown, variegated with ſome white fea⯑thers, the lower part of the tail marked in its middle with a black line; the ſides of the neck, the breaſt, and the belly, of the colour of a dead leaf.

Sloane mentions a variety, either from age or ſex, which differs from the preceding, only be⯑cauſe its back has more of the yellow tint, the breaſt and belly of a brighter yellow, and there is a greater ſhare of black under the bill.

Theſe birds haunt the woods, and have an agreeable ſong. They feed on inſects and worms, for fragments of theſe are found in their gizzard or ſtomach, which is not muſcular. Their liver is divided into a great number of lobes, and of a blackiſh colour.

I have ſeen a variety of the St. Domingo Ca⯑rouges, or the Yellow Bottoms of Cayenne, which I proceed to conſider: it reſembled much the female Bonana of Martinico, except that its head and neck were blacker. This confirms my idea, that moſt of theſe ſpecies are related, and that notwithſtanding our conſtant endeavour to reduce their number, we have ſtill carried the ſubdiviſions too far; eſpecially with regard to foreign birds, with which we are ſo imperfectly acquainted^*.

The LESSER BONANA.
• Le Petit Cul Jaune de Cayenne, Buff. , • Oriolus Xanthornus, Linn. and Gmel. , and • Xanthornus Mexicanus, Briſſ. ^* 

The male and female of this ſpecies are repre⯑ [...]ented No. 5. fig. 1. and fig. 2. Pl. Enl. They [...]ave a jargon nearly like that of our Loriot, and [...]rill like that of our Magpie.

They ſuſpend their neſts, which are of a [...]urſe ſhape, from the extremity of ſmall branch⯑ [...]s, like the Troupiales; but I am informed they [...]hooſe the branches that are long and naked, and [...]elect the trees that are ſtunted and ill-formed, [...]nd lean over the courſe of a river. It is alſo ſaid that theſe neſts are ſubdivided into compart⯑ments for the ſeparate families, which has not been obſerved in the Troupiales.

Theſe birds are exceedingly crafty, and diffi⯑cult to enſnare. They are nearly of the ſize of a Lark; their length eight inches, their alar ex⯑ [...]ent twelve or thirteen, the tail three or four [...]nches, and tapered, ſtretching more than half beyond the cloſed wings. The principal colours [218] of thoſe repreſented No. 5, are yellow and black. In fig. 1. the black is ſpread over the throat, the bill, and the ſpace between that and the eye, the great coverts, and the quills of the wings, and of the tail, and the legs; all the reſt is yellow. But we muſt obſerve, that the middle quills and the great coverts of the wings are edged with white, and the latter ſometimes entirely white. In fig. 2. a part of the ſmall coverts of the wings, the thighs, and the belly, as far as the tail, are yellow, and the reſt all black^*.

We may conſider, as varieties of this ſpecies, 1. The Yellow-headed American Carouge, or Bonana, of Briſſon. The crown of its head, the ſmall coverts of its tail, thoſe of the wings, and the lower part of the thigh, are yellow, the reſt of the body entirely black or blackiſh: it is about eight inches long, twelve inches acroſs the wings, the tail conſiſting of layers, containing twelve quills, each four inches long^†. 2. The Bonana, or Carouge, of the iſland of St. Thomas, whoſe plumage is alſo black, except a little yellow ſpot on the ſmall coverts of the wings: it has twelve quills in the tail, which is tapered, as in the Leſſer Bonana, but ſomewhat longer. Edwards has deſigned one of the ſame ſpecies, Pl. 322, [219] which has a remarkable depreſſion at the baſe of the upper mandible^*. 3. The Jamac of Marcgrave, which differs very little from it with reſpect to ſize, and of which the colours are the ſame, and diſtributed nearly in the ſame way as in fig. 1. except that the head is black, that the white on the wings is collected in a ſingle ſpot, and that a black line extends acroſs the back from the one wing to the other^†.

The YELLOW-HEADED ORIOLE.
• Les Coiffes Jaunes, Buff. , • Oriolus Icterocephalus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Xanthornus Icterocephalus Cayanenſis, Briſſ. , and • The Yellow-headed Starling, Edw. 

Theſe are Cayenne Bonanas, which have a black plumage, and a ſort of cap that covers the head and part of the neck, but deſcends lower before than behind. A black ſtreak, which ſtretches from the noſtrils to the eyes, and turns round the bill, has been omitted in the figure. The ſubject repreſented Pl. 343, appears to be conſiderably larger than another which I have ſeen in the Royal Cabinet. Muſt this be aſcribed [220] to the difference of age, of ſex, of climate, or to the defect of the preparation? But from that variety Briſſon has drawn his deſcription: its ſize is equal to that of the Brambling: it is about ſeven inches long, and eleven acroſs the wings.

The OLIVE CAROUGE of Louiſiana.
• Oriolus Capenſis, Gmel. , • Xanthornus Capitis Bonoe Spei, Briſſ. , and • The Olive Oriole, Lath. 

This bird is repreſented Pl. Enl. No. 607, Fig. 2, under the name of the Carouge (Bonana) of the Cape of Good Hope. I had long ſuſ⯑pected that this bird, though brought from the Cape to Europe, was really not a native of Afri⯑ca; and the point is decided by the late arrival (October 1773) of a Bonana from Louiſiana, which is evidently of the ſame ſpecies, and dif⯑fers in nothing but in the colour of the throat, which in the latter is black, and orange in the former. I am convinced that we ought to en⯑tertain the ſame opinion of all the pretended Bonanas and Troupiales of the ancient conti⯑nent; and that we ſhall diſcover ſooner or later that they are either of a different ſpecies, or have derived their origin from America.

[221] The Olive Bonana of Louiſiana has much of the olive tinge in its plumage, eſpecially on the upper part of the body; but this colour is not uniform; it is tinctured with gray on the crown of the head, and with brown behind the neck, on the back, the ſhoulders, the wings, and the tail; with a light-brown on the rump and the origin of the tail; and with yellow on the flanks and the thighs, and the large coverts and quills of the wings, whoſe fundamental colour is brown, are edged with yellow. All the un⯑der-part of the body is yellow, except the throat, which is orange; the bill and the legs are of a cinereous brown.

This bird is nearly of the ſize of a houſe ſparrow; its length ſix or ſeven inches, its alar extent ten or eleven inches. The bill is near an inch long, and the tail more than two; it is ſquare, and conſiſts of twelve quills. The firſt quill is the ſhorteſt of the wing, and the third and fourth the longeſt^*.

The KINK.
• Oriolus Sinenſis, Gmel. , and • The Kink Oriole, Lath. 

This new ſpecies, brought very lately from China, appears to reſemble ſo much the Bonana on the one hand, and the Blackbird on the other, that it may be regarded as the intermediate ſhade. The ſides of its bill are compreſſed as in the Blackbird, but not ſcalloped like thoſe of the Bonana; and Daubenton the younger has pro⯑perly given it a diſtinct name, as being really different from theſe two ſpecies, though it con⯑nects the common chain.

The Kink is ſmaller than our Blackbird: its head, its neck, origin of its back, and its breaſt, are of aſh-gray, and this colour acquires a deeper hue as it approaches the back; the reſt of the body, both above and below, is white, as alſo the coverts of the wings, whoſe quills are of a poliſhed ſteel-colour, gliſtening with reflexions that play between greeniſh and violet. The tail is ſhort, tapered, and parted by this ſame ſteel colour and white; ſo that on the two mid⯑quills, the white is only a ſmall ſpot at their ex⯑tremity; this white ſpot extends higher on the following quills, the farther they remove from the middle, and the ſteel colour retiring, is at laſt reduced on the two exterior quills to a ſmall ſpot near their origin.

The LORIOT ^*.
• Oriolus Galbula, Linn. and Gmel. , • Oriolus, Briſſ. , • Galbula, Ray, and Will. , • Turdus Luteus, Friſch. , • Turdus Aureus, Klein. , • The Witwall, Will. , • The Yellow-bird from Bengal, Alb. , and • The Golden Oriole, Penn. and Lath. 

IT has been ſaid, that the young of this bird are excluded by degrees, and in detached parts, and that the firſt object of the parents is to col⯑lect and combine the ſcattered limbs, and, by virtue of a certain herb, to form them into an animated whole. The difficulty of this marvel⯑lous re-union hardly exceeds, perhaps, that of properly ſeparating the ancient names which the moderns have confuſedly applied to this ſpecies, [224] retaining thoſe which really belong to it, and referring the others to thoſe kinds which the ancients intended them to denote. I ſhall here obſerve only that, though this bird is diſperſed through a wide extent, there are certain coun⯑tries which it ſeems to avoid. It is not found in Sweden, in England, in the Bugey mountains, nor in the heights of Nantua, though it appears in Switzerland regularly twice a year. Belon ſays that he never ſaw it in Greece; and how can we ſuppoſe that Ariſtotle knew this bird, with⯑out being acquainted with the ſingular con⯑ſtruction of its neſt, or if he knew it, that he ſhould have omitted to take notice of it?

Pliny ſpeaks of the Chlorion ^*, from the account of Ariſtotle; but is not always attentive to com⯑pare the information which he borrows from the Greeks, with what he draws from other ſources. He has mentioned the Loriot by four different terms^†, without acquainting us whether it is the ſame bird with the Chlorion.

[225] The Loriot is a roving bird, continually changing its abode; it lives with us only dur⯑ing the ſeaſon of love. It obeys the primary impulſes with ardour and fidelity. The union is formed on the arrival, about the middle of the ſpring. The pair build their neſt on lofty trees, but often at no conſiderable height; they form it with ſingular induſtry, and in a way very different from that of the Blackbird, though they have been referred to the ſame genus. They commonly faſten to the fork of a ſmall branch long ſtraws or hemp-ſtalks; ſome of which, extending directly acroſs, form the margin of the neſt; others penetrate through its texture; while others, bending under it, give ſolidity to the ſtructure. The neſt is thus pro⯑vided with an exterior cover, and the inner bed, prepared for receiving the eggs, is a matting of the ſmall ſtems of dog-graſs, the beards of which are ſo much concealed that the neſt has often been ſuppoſed to be lined with the roots of plants. The interſtices between the outer and inner caſe are filled with moſs, lichens, and other ſuch ſubſtances, which compact the whole. Af⯑ter the neſt is conſtructed, the female drops in it four or five eggs, the ground colour of which is a dirty white, and ſprinkled with ſmall diſ⯑tinct [226] ſpots of a brown, approaching to black, moſt numerous on the ſmall end. She ſits cloſely three weeks, and not only retains long her af⯑fection^* to her young, but defends them againſt their enemies, and even againſt man, with more intrepidity than could be expected from ſo ſmall a bird. The parents have been ſeen to dart re⯑ſolutely upon the plunderers of their brood; and what is ſtill more remarkable, a mother, taken with her neſt, continued to hatch in the cage, and expired on her eggs.

After the young are reared, the family pre⯑pares for its journey. This commonly happens in the end of Auguſt, or the beginning of Sep⯑tember. They never aſſemble in numerous flocks, nor do the families remain united, for ſeldom are more than two or three found toge⯑ther. Though they fly rather heavily, flapping their wings like the Blackbird, they probably win⯑ter in Africa: for on the one hand, the Chevalier des Mazy, Commander of the Order of Malta, aſſures me, that they paſs that iſland in the month of September, and repaſs it in the ſpring; and on the other, Thevenot ſays, that they migrate into Egypt in the month of May, and return in September^†. He adds, that in May they are very fat, and their fleſh good eating. Aldro⯑vandus is ſurpriſed that in France they are never brought to our tables.

[227] The Loriot is about as large as the Blackbird; its length nine or ten inches, its alar extent ſix⯑teen, its tail three and a half long, and its bill fourteen lines. The male is of a fine yellow over all the body, the neck, and head, except a black ſtreak which ſtretches from the eye to the corner of the aperture of the bill. The wings are black, except a few yellow ſpots, which ter⯑minate moſt of the great quills, and ſome of the coverts: the tail is divided by yellow and black, ſo that the black prevails on the part which ap⯑pears of the two mid-quills, and the yellow gra⯑dually exends over the lateral quills, beginning at the tips of thoſe which are next the two mid⯑dle ones. But the plumage is very different in the two ſexes. Almoſt all that was of a pure black in the male, is, in the female, of a brown, with a greeniſh tinge; and what was of a beau⯑tiful yellow in the former, is in the latter olive and pale brown:—olive on the head, and the upper part of the body dirty white, variegated with brown ſtreaks under the body, white at the tips of moſt of the wing-quills, and pale yellow at the extremity of their coverts; and there is no pure yellow, except at the end of the tail and on the lower coverts. I have beſides obſerved in a female, a ſmall ſpace behind the ear, with⯑out feathers, and of a light ſlate colour.

The young males reſemble the females with re⯑ſpect to plumage, and the more ſo the tenderer their age. At firſt they are ſtill more ſpeckled [228] than the female, and even on the upper part of the body; but in the month of Auguſt the yel⯑low begins to appear under the body. Their cry is different alſo from that of the old ones; they ſcream yo, yo, yo, ſucceeded ſometimes with a ſort of mewing like that of a cat^*. But they have alſo a ſort of whiſtling, eſpecially before rain^†; if this be not really the ſame with the mewing.

Their iris is red, the bill reddiſh brown, the inſide of the bill reddiſh, the edges of the lower mandible ſomewhat arched lengthwiſe, the tongue forked, and, as it were, jagged at the tip, the gizzard muſcular, terminating in a bag formed by the dilatation of the oeſophagus, the gall bladder green, the coeca very ſmall and ſhort, and the firſt phalanx of the outer toe glued to that of the middle toe.

When they arrive in the ſpring, they feed on caterpillars, worms, inſects, whatever in ſhort they can catch; but they are fondeſt of cherries, figs^‡, the berries of the ſervice tree, peas, &c. A couple of theſe birds could in one day com⯑pletely plunder a rich cherry-tree; for they peck [229] the cherries one after another, and only eat the ripe part.

The Loriots are not eaſy to breed or tame. They can be caught by the call, placing limed twigs where they drink, and by various ſorts of nets.

Theſe birds have ſometimes ſpread from one end of the continent to another, without ſuffer⯑ing any alteration in their external form, or in their plumage; for Loriots have been ſeen in Bengal, and even in China, which were pre⯑ciſely like ours. But others have been brought from nearly the ſame countries, which had ſome differences in their colours, and which may be regarded, for the moſt part, as varieties of cli⯑mate, till accurate obſervations, of their in⯑ſtincts, their habits, and manner of life, throw light on our conjectures^*.

The THRUSHES.
• Les Grives, Buff. , and • Turdi, Linn. &c. 

THE family of the Thruſhes is certainly much related to that of the Blackbirds^*; but it would be improper, as ſeveral naturaliſts have done, to confound them together. The com⯑mon people appear to have acted more wiſely, who have applied different names to objects which are really diſtinct. Thoſe are termed Thruſhes, whoſe plumage is ſpeckled^†, or marked with little ſtrokes, diſpoſed with a kind of regularity; on the contrary, thoſe are Black⯑birds whoſe plumage is uniform, or varied with large ſpots. We readily adopt this diſtinction, and reſerving the Blackbirds for a ſeparate ar⯑ticle, we ſhall treat of the Thruſhes in the pre⯑ſent. We ſhall diſtinguiſh four principal ſpecies in our own climate, and to them we ſhall refer, as uſual, their varieties and the foreign ſpecies moſt analogous.

The firſt ſpecies is the Throſtle, Pl. Enl. No. 406; and I conſider as varieties, the White-headed [235] Thruſh of Aldrovandus, the Creſted Thruſh of Schwenckfeld; and as foreign analo⯑gous ſpecies, the Guiana Thruſh, Pl. Enl. No. 398, fig. 1. and the Little American Thruſh, mentioned by Cateſby.

The ſecond ſpecies is the Miſſel, Pl. Enl. No. 489, which is the turdus viſcivorus of the an⯑cients, and to which I ſhall refer the White Miſſel as a variety.

The third ſpecies is the Fieldfare, Pl. Enl. No. 490; it is the turdus pilaris of the ancients. The varieties, the Spotted Fieldfare of Klein, and the White-headed Fieldfare of Briſſon. I reckon as the analogous foreign kinds, the Ca⯑rolina Fieldfare of Cateſby, which Briſſon makes his eighth ſpecies of Thruſhes, and the Canada Fieldfare of Cateſby, which Briſſon makes his ninth ſpecies.

The fourth ſpecies is the Red-Wing, Pl. Enl. No. 51, which is the turdus iliacus of the ancients.

Laſtly, I ſhall ſubjoin ſome foreign Thruſhes, which are too little known to be referred to their proper ſpecies: ſuch are the Green Barbary Thruſh of Doctor Shaw, and the Chineſe Hoami of Briſſon, which I ſhall admit into the Thruſhes, upon the authority of that naturaliſt, though it appears to me to differ from them in its plumage and in its ſhape.

Of the four principal ſpecies belonging to our climate, the two firſt, which are the Throſtle [236] and the Miſſel, reſemble each other. Both ap⯑pear to be leſs ſubject to the neceſſity of migra⯑tion, ſince they often breed in France, Germany, Italy, and in ſhort in thoſe countries where they paſs the winter. Both ſing delightfully, and they are of the ſmall number of birds whoſe warble is compoſed of a ſucceſſion of notes; and they both ſeem to be of an unſocial diſpoſition, for, according to ſome obſervers, they perform their journies alone. Friſch traces other ana⯑logies alſo between the colours of their plumage, and the order of their diſtribution, &c.

The two other ſpecies, viz. the Fieldfare and the Red-wing, are alſo analogous in ſome cir⯑cumſtances. They travel in numerous flocks, are more tranſitory, and ſeldom neſtle in our climates; for which reaſon they ſing very ſel⯑dom^*, and their ſong is unknown not only to many naturaliſts, but even to moſt ſportſmen. It is rather a ſort of chirping, and when a ſcore meet on a poplar, they chatter all at once, mak⯑ing a very loud noiſe, which is far from being melodious.

Both ſexes of the Thruſh are nearly of the ſame ſize, and equally liable to change their plumage from one ſeaſon to another^†. In all [237] of them the firſt phalanx of the outer toe is joined to that of the mid-toe, the edges of the bill ſcalloped near the tip. None of them ſubſiſts on ſeeds; whether becauſe it ſuits not their ap⯑petite, or that their bill and ſtomach are too weak to break and digeſt them. Berries are their chief food, and hence they have received the epithet of baccivorous. They alſo eat in⯑ſects, worms, &c. and it is in queſt of theſe that they come abroad after rain, rove in the fields, and ſcrape the ground, eſpecially the Miſſels and the Fieldfares. They make the ſame ſearch in winter in places of a warm aſpect where the ground is thawed.

Their fleſh is a delicate food, eſpecially that of the firſt and fourth ſpecies, which are the Throſtle and the Red-Wing: but the ancient Romans held it in ſtill higher eſtimation than we, and kept theſe birds the whole year in a ſort of voleries, which deſerve to be deſcribed^*.

Each volery contained many thouſand Thruſhes and Blackbirds, not to mention other birds excellent for eating, ſuch as Ortolans, Quails, &c. So numerous were theſe voleries in the vicinity of Rome, and in the territory of the Sabines, that the dung of the Thruſhes was employed to manure the lands, and what is remarkable, to fatten oxen and hogs^†.

[238] Theſe Thruſhes had leſs liberty in their vo⯑leries than our field pigeons in their dovecotes; for they were never ſuffered to go abroad, and they laid no eggs: but as they were ſupplied with abundance of choice food, they fattened to the great profit of the proprietor^*. The vo⯑leries were a kind of vaulted courts, the inſide furniſhed with a number of rooſts. The door was very low, the windows were few, and placed in ſuch manner as to prevent the pri⯑ſoners from ſeeing the fields, the woods, the birds fluttering at liberty, or whatever might awaken their ſenſibility, and diſturb the calm ſo conducive to corpulence. A little glimmer⯑ing was ſufficient to direct them to their food; which conſiſted of millet, and a ſort of paſte made with bruiſed figs and flour. They had alſo given them the berries of the lentiſk, of the myrtle, of the ivy, and whatever in ſhort would improve the delicacy and flavour of their fleſh. They were ſupplied with a little ſtream of wa⯑ter, which ran in a gutter through the volery. Twenty days before they were intended for killing, their allowance was augmented; nay ſo far was the attention carried, that they gently removed into a little anti-chamber the Thruſhes [239] which were plump and in good order, to enjoy more quiet; and frequently to heighten the illuſion, they hung boughs and verdure imitat⯑ing the natural ſeenery; ſo that the birds might fancy themſelves in the midſt of the woods. In ſhort, they treated their ſlaves well, becauſe they knew their intereſt. Such as were newly caught, were put in ſmall ſeparate voleries along with others that had been accuſtomed to con⯑finement; and every contrivance, every ſooth⯑ing art, was employed to habituate them ſome⯑what to bondage; yet theſe were birds never completely tamed.

We can at preſent perceive ſome traces of the ancient practice, improved indeed by the ſkill of the moderns. It is common in certain provinces of France to hang pots in the tops of trees which are haunted by the Thruſhes; and theſe birds finding convenient ſheltered neſts, ſeldom fail to lay their eggs in them to hatch and rear their young^*. This plan con⯑tributes doubly to the multiplication of the ſpe⯑cies; for it both preſerves the brood, and by ſaving the time ſpent in building neſts, it ena⯑bles them to make two hatches in the year^†. When they find no pots, they conſtruct their [240] neſts in trees or even buſhes, and with great art; they cover the outſide with moſs, ſtraw, dried leaves, &c. but they line the inſide with a hard caſe formed of mud, compacted with ſtraws and ſmall roots. In this reſpect they differ from the Pies and Blackbirds, which lay their eggs on a ſoft mattreſs. Theſe neſts are hollow hemiſpheres about four inches in dia⯑meter. The colour of the eggs varies in the different ſpecies between blue and green, with ſome dull ſpots that are moſt frequent on the large end. Every ſpecies has alſo its peculiar ſong; and ſometimes they have even been taught to ſpeak^*. But this muſt be under⯑ſtood chiefly of the Throſtle and the Miſſel, in which the organs of voice ſeem to be the moſt perfect.

It is ſaid that the Thruſhes ſwallow the ber⯑ries entire of the juniper, the miſletoe, the ivy, &c.^†, and void them ſo little altered, that when they fall in a proper ſoil, they germi⯑nate and produce. But Aldrovandus affirms that, having made theſe birds ſwallow the grapes of the wild vine and the berries of the miſletoe, he could never diſcover in their ex⯑crements any of theſe that retained its form.

The Thruſhes have a ventricle more or leſs muſcular, no craw, nor even a dilatation of the [241] oeſophagus which may ſupply its place, and ſcarce any caecum; but all of them have a gall bladder, have the end of the tongue parted into two or three threads, and have eighteen quills in each wing, and twelve in the tail.

Theſe birds are ſad and melancholy, and as the natural conſequence of that diſpoſition, they are the more enamoured of liberty. They ſel⯑dom play or even fight together; ſtill leſs will they bend to domeſtic ſlavery. But their love of freedom is not equalled by their reſources for preſervation. Their oblique and tortuous flight is almoſt their only protection againſt the ſhot of the ſportſman, or the talons of the bird of prey^*. If they reach a cloſe branchy tree, they remain ſtill through fear, and can hardly be beat out^†. Thouſands of them are caught in ſnares; but the Throſtle and the Red-Wing are the two ſpecies which can the moſt eaſily be caught by the nooſe, and almoſt the only ones that can be taken by the call.

Theſe nooſes are nothing but two or three horſe-hairs twiſted together, and forming a run⯑ning knot. They are placed round the juni⯑pers or ſervice-trees in the neighbourhood of a fountain or a mere, and when the place is well choſen, and the ſprings properly ſet, ſeveral [242] hundred Thruſhes have been caught in a day in the ſpace of a hundred acres.

It is aſcertained from obſervations made in different countries, that when the Thruſhes ap⯑pear in Europe about the beginning of the au⯑tumn, they arrive from the countries of the north in company with thoſe numerous flocks of birds which, on the approach of winter, traverſe the Baltic ſea, and leave Lapland, Siberia, Livonia, Poland, and Pruſſia, for more temperate climates. So abundant are the Thruſhes then on the ſouthern ſhore of the Baltic, that, according to the computation of Klein, the ſingle city of Dantzic conſumes every year ninety thouſand pairs. It is equally certain that the ſurvivors which emigrate again after the rigors of winter, direct their courſe towards the north. But the different ſpecies arrive not all of them at the ſame time. In Burgundy, the Throſtle appears the firſt about the end of September, next the Red-Wing, and laſt of all, the Fieldfare and the Miſſel; but the latter ſpecies is much leſs nu⯑merous than the three others, which might be expected, ſince it is more diſperſed.

We muſt not ſuppoſe that all the ſpecies of Thruſhes paſs conſtantly in the ſame number; ſometimes they are very few, becauſe the ſeaſon has either been unfavourable to their multiplica⯑tion, or to their migration^*; at other times they [243] are extremely numerous: and a very intelligent obſerver^* has informed me, that he ſaw prodigi⯑ous clouds of Thruſhes, chiefly Red-Wings and Fieldfares, alight in the month of March at Brie, and cover an extent of ſeven or eight leagues. This appearance, which was unexampled, laſted near a month, and it was remarked that the cold had continued very long that winter^†.

The ancients ſaid that the Thruſhes came every year into Italy from beyond ſeas about the autumnal equinox, and that they returned about the vernal equinox, and that in both paſſages^‡ they aſſembled and reſted in the iſlets of Pontia, Palmaria, and Pandataria, which are nigh the Italian coaſts. They repoſe too in the iſland of Malta, where they arrive in October and November; the north-weſt wind brings ſome flocks, the ſouth or ſouth-weſt ſometimes beats them back. But they do not always ar⯑rive with certain winds, and their appearance depends oftener on the ſtate of the air than on its motion; for if, in calm weather, the ſky ſuddenly darkens with the preludes of a ſtorm, the ground is then covered with Thruſhes.

Nor does the iſland of Malta appear to limit the migration of the Thruſhes towards the [244] ſouth; for they are found in the interior parts of the African continent, from whence they an⯑nually paſs, it is ſaid, into Spain^*.

Thoſe which remain in Europe ſpend the ſummer in the mountain foreſts: and on the approach of winter, they remove from the heart of the woods where the fruits and inſects begin to fail, and ſettle on the ſkirts of the adjacent plains. It is, no doubt, during this flitting that in the beginning of November ſo great a num⯑ber are caught in the foreſt of Compigne. It is uncommon, ſays Belon, to find the different ſpecies in numbers at the ſame time, and in the ſame place.

In all of them the edges of the upper man⯑dible are ſcalloped near the point, the inſide of the bill is yellow, its baſe has ſome black hairs or briſtles projecting forwards, the firſt phalanx of the outer-toe is joined to that of the middle⯑toe, the upper-part of the body is of a deeper brown, and the under lighter and ſpeckled; laſtly, in all, or in moſt of them, the tail is [245] nearly a third of the total length of the bird, which varies in the different ſpecies between eight and eleven inches, and is only two-thirds of the alar extent; the wings when cloſed reach as far as the middle of the tail, and the weight of the bird is between two ounces and a half and four and a half.

Klein aſſerts, he is well informed that Thruſhes are found alſo in the northern parts of India, but which differ from ours in not mi⯑grating.

The THROSTLE ^*.
• La Grive, Buff. , • Turdus Muſicus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Turdus Minor, Briſſ. , • Turdus in altiſſimis, Klein. , and • The Mavis, Throſtle, or Song-Thruſh, Will. 

THIS ſpecies, in the French language, gives name to the whole genus. I have there⯑fore ranged it in the firſt place, though in point of ſize it occupies only the third. It is very common in ſome parts of Burgundy, and called by the country people The Little Thruſh ^†, or Little Red-Wing ^‡. It commonly arrives every year about the time of vintage, probably at⯑tracted by the maturity of the grapes; and hence undoubtedly it has received the name of Vine-Thruſh. It diſappears during the froſts, and again makes a tranſient viſit in the months of March or April before its migration in May. On the departure of the flock, they always leave a few ſtragglers behind, which are either un⯑able to follow the main body, or, yielding to [247] the mild influence of ſpring, ſtop and breed in the foreſts that occur in their route^*. This is the reaſon why ſome Throſtles conſtantly re⯑main in our woods, where they build their neſt on the wild apple and pear-trees, and even in junipers and in the buſhes, as has been obſerved in Sileſia^† and in England^‡. Sometimes they fix it in the trunk of a thick tree ten or twelve feet high, and prefer, for the materials, wood rotten and worm-eaten.

They generally pair about the end of winter, and form laſting unions. They make two hatches in the year, and ſometimes a third, when their former have not ſucceeded. The firſt laying conſiſts of five or ſix eggs, of a deep blue with black ſpots, moſt frequent at the large end; and in the ſubſequent hatches the number regularly diminiſhes. It is difficult in this ſpe⯑cies to ſeparate the males from the females; their ſize being the ſame in both ſexes, and the co⯑lours of their plumage, as I have ſaid, ſubject to vary. Aldrovandus ſaw, and cauſed to be de⯑lineated, three of theſe birds, caught in different [248] ſeaſons; all which differed in the colours of their bill, of their legs, and of their feathers: in one of them the ſtreaks on the breaſt were hardly perceptible. Friſch aſſerts, however, that the old males have a white ray above the eyes, and Linnaeus makes theſe white eyelids one of the characters of the ſpecies. Almoſt all the other naturaliſts agree, that the young males can hardly be diſtinguiſhed but by their early inclination to chant: for the Throſtle ſings de⯑lightfully, eſpecially in the ſpring^*, whoſe re⯑turn it announces; and as it breeds ſeveral times in the year, it enjoys a ſucceſſion of the vernal pleaſures, and may be ſaid to warble three-fourths of the year. It ſits whole hours on the top of a tall tree, ſtraining its delicate throat. Its warbling conſiſts of ſeveral different couplets, like that of the Miſſel, but ſtill more varied and more charming; which has obtained for it in many countries the denomination of the Singing Thruſh. The ſong is undoubtedly in⯑tended to attract the female; for even the imperfect imitation of it will produce that effect.

Each brood follows ſeparately their parents; ſometimes ſeveral of theſe chancing to meet in the ſame wood, would induce us to think that [249] they aſſociate in numerous flocks^*; but their union is fortuitous and momentary; the fami⯑lies ſoon ſeparate, and even the individuals diſ⯑perſe after they are able to provide ſingly their ſubſiſtence^†.

Theſe birds are found in Italy, France, Lor⯑raine, England, Scotland, Sweden, where they haunt the foreſts which abound with maples^‡. They migrate from Sweden into Poland fifteen days before and after the feſtival of St. Michael, when the weather is warm and calm.

Though the Throſtle is quick-ſighted, and very alert to avoid its declared enemies, and to eſcape from manifeſt dangers; it has at bottom but little cunning, and is quite unguarded againſt concealed ſtratagems: it is eaſily caught either by the call or the gin, though leſs ſo than the Red-Wing. In ſome parts of Poland, ſuch numbers are taken that ſmall barks are loaded with them for exportation^§. It is a bird that delights in woods, and in ſuch places the ſnares may be laid with ſucceſs. It ſeldom is met with in the plains, and even when it viſits the vines it conſtantly retires into the neighbouring copſes in the evening, and during the heat of the day; [250] ſo that to ſucceed in catching the Throſtle, we ought to chooſe the proper time; its departure in the morning, and its return in the evening, or the mid-day, when the ſun's rays are moſt oppreſſive. Sometimes they are intoxicated with eating ripe grapes, and then they fall an eaſy prey.

Willughby informs us, that this ſpecies breeds in England, and reſides there the whole year; and he adds, that its fleſh is excellent, but par⯑takes of the quality of its food. Our Throſtle ſubſiſts in autumn on cheſnuts, beech-maſt, grapes, figs, ivy-berries, juniper-berries, the fruit of the ſervice-tree, and ſuch like aliments. We are not ſo certain what it lives upon in the ſpring. In that ſeaſon it commonly appears on the ground in the woods, in wet places, and among the buſhes which ſkirt the flooded mea⯑dows, where it may be ſuppoſed to ſearch for earth-worms, ſnails, &c. If an intenſe vernal froſt happens, the Throſtles, inſtead of flying to milder climates, retire to the ſprings, and languiſh and pine; and a continuance of this ſevere weather will deſtroy many of them. This would ſeem to ſhew, that cold is not the ſole cauſe of their migrations, but that they have a certain circuit to deſcribe annually in a given time. It is ſaid that pomegranates prove a poiſon to them. In Bugey, the neſts of the Throſtles are much ſought after, or rather [251] their young, which are dreſſed into delicate diſhes.

I ſhould ſuppoſe that this ſpecies was un⯑known to the ancients; for Ariſtotle reckons only three kinds^*, which are all different from the preſent, and of which we ſhall treat in the following articles. Nor can we imagine that Pliny meant this when he ſpeaks of a new ſpe⯑cies which appeared in Italy in the time of the war between Otho and Vitellius; for that bird was almoſt as large as a Pigeon^†, and therefore four times the ſize of the Throſtle, which weighs only three ounces.

I have obſerved in a Throſtle which lived ſome time with me, that when it was angry it cracked and ſnapped with its bill; its upper mandible was alſo moveable, though much leſs than the lower; alſo its tail was ſomewhat forked, which is not very evident from the figure^‡.

FOREIGN BIRDS, THAT ARE RELATED TO THE THROSTLE.

The FIELDFARE ^*.
• La Litorne, Buff. , • Turdus Pilaris, Linn. Gmel. Geſner, and Aldrov. , and • Turdus Pilaris, ſeu Turdela, Briſſ. 

THIS Thruſh is the largeſt after the Miſſel; and like it can hardly be decoyed by the call, but may be caught by a nooſe. It differs from the other Thruſhes by the yellow colour of its bill, the deeper brown of its legs, and the cinereous ſometimes variegated with black, which ſpreads over its head, behind its neck, and upon its rump.

The male and female have the ſame cry, which will equally attract the wild Fieldfares in the ſeaſon of migration^†. But the female is diſtinguiſhed from the male by the colour of her bill, which is much duller. Theſe birds, which breed in Poland and Lower Auſtria^‡, never neſtle in France. They arrive in flocks with the Red-Wing about the beginning of De⯑cember, and make a loud noiſe as they fly^§. [266] They haunt the unploughed fields which are interſperſed with juniper buſhes, and when they appear again in the ſpring^*, they prefer the wet meadows. In general they inhabit the woods much leſs than the two preceding ſpecies. Some⯑times they make an early but tranſient appear⯑ance when the ſervices are ripe, of which they are very fond, though they nevertheleſs return at the uſual time.

It is not an uncommon thing to ſee the Fieldfares aſſemble to the number of two or three thouſand in a ſpot where there are ripe ſervices, which they devour with ſuch voracity, that they throw half of them on the ground. After rains they frequently run along the ditches in ſearch of worms and ſlugs. In the time of hard froſts, they live upon the haws of the white-thorn, the berries of the miſletoe, and thoſe of other plants^†.

We may infer then that the Fieldfares are of a much more ſocial diſpoſition than the Throſ⯑tles or the Miſſels. They ſometimes go ſingle, but for the moſt part they form, as I have al⯑ready remarked, very numerous flocks, fly in a body, and ſpread through the meadows in ſearch of food, never loſing ſight of their ſociety. They all collect together upon the ſame tree at certain hours of the day, or when at any time [267] they are alarmed at the near approach of a perſon.

Linnaeus mentions a Fieldfare, which was bred in the houſe of a wine-merchant, and be⯑came ſo familiar that it would run along the ta⯑ble and drink the wine out of the glaſſes; it drank ſo much that it grew bald, but being ſhut up in its cage and denied wine, it recovered its plumage^*. This little anecdote preſents two remarkable facts; the effect of wine upon the feathers of a bird, and the inſtance of a tame Fieldfare, which is very uncommon; for the Thruſhes cannot be, as I have before ſaid, eaſily domeſticated.

The Fieldfares are the more numerous in pro⯑portion to the ſeverity of the weather; they ſeem to be even a ſign of its continuance, for the fowlers and thoſe who live in the country judge that the winter is not over as long as the Fieldfares are heard. They retire in ſummer into the northern countries, where they breed and find abundance of junipers. Friſch aſcribes to this ſort of food the excellent quality he diſ⯑covered in their fleſh. I own that there is no diſputing about taſtes, but I muſt ſay that in Bur⯑gundy this Thruſh is reckoned very indifferent eating, and that in general the flavour commu⯑nicated by juniper is always ſomewhat bitter. Others aſſert that the fleſh of the Fieldfares is [268] never better or more ſucculent than when it feeds on worms and inſects.

The Fieldfare was known by the ancients un⯑der the name of Turdus Pilaris; not becauſe it has been always caught with a nooſe, as Salerne ſays, a quality which would not have diſtin⯑guiſhed it from the other Thruſhes, but becauſe the hairs or black briſtles round its bill, which project forwards, are longer in this ſpecies than in the Throſtle or the Miſſel. We may add, that its claws are very ſtrong, as remarked in the Britiſh Zoology. Friſch relates, that if the young of the Miſſel be put in a Fieldfare's neſt, it will feed and educate them as its own; but I would not thence infer, as Friſch has done, that we might expect to obtain an hybridous race; for no perſon ſurely looks for a new breed be⯑tween the hen and the drake, though the hen often rears whole hatches of ducklings. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE FIELDFARE.

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE THRUSHES AND BLACKBIRDS.

The MOCKING BIRDS.
• Les Moqueurs, Buff. 

EVERY remarkable bird has always many names, but if it be at the ſame time a na⯑tive of a foreign climate, this embarraſſing mul⯑titude, diſgraceful to Natural Hiſtory, is in⯑creaſed by the confuſion of ſpecies. Such is the caſe with the American Mocking Birds. It is eaſy to perceive that Briſſon's Mocking Bird, and the Cinereous Blackbird of St. Domingo, Pl. Enl. No. 558, both belong to the ſame ſpecies, the only difference being that the former has ſomewhat leſs of the gray colour in the under-ſide of the body than the latter. It will alſo appear, from compariſon, that Briſſon's Blackbird of St. Domingo is likewiſe the ſame, diſtinguiſhed only by ſome lighter or deeper tints on its plumage and its tail-quills, which are hardly at all tapered. In like manner we ſhall find that the Tzonpan of Fernandez is either the female of the Cencontlatolli, that is, of the Mocking Bird, as Fernandez himſelf ſuſpects, or at leaſt a permanent variety of that ſpecies^*. [285] It is true that its plumage is leſs uniform, be⯑ing mixed above with white, black, and brown, and below with white, black, and cinereous; but the fundamental colour is the ſame, as alſo its ſize, its general ſhape, its ſong, and climate. We may ſay the ſame of the Tetzonpan and Centzonpantli of Fernandez^*; for in the ſhort mention which that author has made of it, fea⯑tures of analogy are to be met with in ſize, in colour, and in ſong, and no inſtance of diſparity occurs. Beſides, the reſemblance between the names Tzonpan, Tetzonpan, Centzonpantli, ſeems to ſhew that they mark a ſingle ſpecies, and that the diverſity has ariſen from the miſtake of the tranſcriber, or the difference of the Mexican dia⯑lects.—Laſtly, we can ſcarcely heſitate to admit among the ſpecies the bird, called by Briſſon the Great Mocking Bird, and which he ſays is the ſame with Sloane's Mocking Bird, though, ac⯑cording to the dimenſions given by Sloane, this is the ſmalleſt of the kind; but Sloane regards it as the Cencontlatolli of Fernandez, which Briſſon makes his ordinary Mocking Bird. But Briſſon has himſelf, without perceiving it, admitted the poſition which I hold; for he quotes two paſ⯑ſages from Ray, which applied to the ſame bird, and refers one to his great, and the other to his ſmall ſpecies. The only difference between the two is, that the great Mocking Bird has a [286] ſomewhat browner plumage, and longer legs^*; and its deſcribers have taken no notice of its ta⯑pered tail.

After this reduction, there remains only two ſpecies of Mocking Birds, viz. The French Mocking Bird and the Ordinary Mocking Bird. I ſhall treat of them in the order I have named them, as it is nearly that of their relation to the Thruſhes.

The FRENCH MOCKING BIRD.
• Turdus Rufus, Linn. Gmel. and Klein. , • Turdus Carolinenſis, Briſſ. , • Fox-coloured Thruſh, Cateſby, and Penn. , • The Ground Mocking-Bird, Lawſon. , and • The Ferruginous Thruſh, Lath. 

None of the American Mocking Birds reſem⯑bles ſo much our Thruſhes in the ſpeckles on the breaſt, as this; but it differs widely from them in the proportions between the tail and wings, theſe ending, when cloſed, almoſt where the tail begins. The tail is more than four inches long, which exceeds the third of the whole length of the bird, that being only eleven [287] inches. Its ſize is intermediate between that of the Miſſel and the Fieldfare. Its eyes are yel⯑low, its bill blackiſh, its legs brown, and all the upper-part of the body of a fox colour, but with a mixture of brown. Theſe two colours alſo predominate on the wing-quills, though ſepa⯑rately; the rufous on the outer webs, the brown on the inner. The great and middle coverts of the wings are tipt with white, which forms two ſtreaks that croſs the wings obliquely.

The under-ſide of the body is dirty white, ſpotted with a duſky brown, but theſe ſpots are more ſtraggling than in our Thruſhes: the tail is tapered ſomewhat drooping, and entirely ru⯑fous. The ſong of the French Mocking Bird has ſome variety, but not comparable to that of the proper Mocking Bird.

It feeds commonly on a kind of black cher⯑ries, which are very different from thoſe of Eu⯑rope, ſince they hang in cluſters. It remains all the year in Carolina and Virginia, and con⯑ſequently is not, at leaſt in thoſe provinces, a bird of paſſage:—another analogous circum⯑ſtance to our Thruſhes^*.

The MOCKING BIRD.
• Turdus Polyglottus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Mimus Major, Briſſ. , • The American Nightingale, Song Thruſh, or Gray Mocking Bird, Sloane. , • The Mocking Bird, Cateſby. , and • The Mimic Thruſh, Penn. and Lath. 

We have here a ſtriking exception to the ge⯑neral remark made by travellers, that in pro⯑portion as the plumage of the birds in the New World are rich, elegant, and ſplendid, ſo their notes are harſh, raucous, and monotonous. The Mocking Bird is, on the contrary, if we believe Fernandez, Nieremberg, and the native Ame⯑ricans, the ſweeteſt choriſter of the feathered race, not excepting the Nightingale. It equals that charming bird in the melody of its ſong; but it poſſeſſes beſides the power of imitating the cries of other animals: hence is derived its name. Nor is it ſatisfied with barely re-echoing the ſounds. It gives them ſoftneſs and grace. Accordingly the ſavages have beſtowed upon it the appellation of cencontlatolli; that is, four hundred languages; and the learned have em⯑ployed the epithet polyglot. But the Mock⯑ing Bird mingles action with its ſong, and its meaſured movements accompany and expreſs the ſucceſſion of its emotions. Its prelude is to riſe ſlowly with expanded wings, and ſoon [289] ſink back to the ſame ſpot, its head hanging downwards. Its action now correſponds with the varied nature of its muſic. If the notes are briſk and lively, it deſcribes in the air a number of circles croſſing each other; or it aſcends and deſcends continually in a ſpiral line. If they are loud and rapid, it with equal briſkneſs flaps its wings. Is its ſong unequal? it flutters, it bounds. Do its tones ſoften by degrees, melt into tender ſtrains, and die away in a pauſe more charming than the ſweeteſt melody? it gently diminiſhes its action, glides ſmoothly above its tree, till the wavings of its wings begin to be imperceptible, at leaſt ceaſe, and the bird re⯑mains ſuſpended and motionleſs in the air.

The plumage of this American Nightingale by no means correſponds with the beauty of its ſong; the colours are very ordinary, and have neither brilliancy nor variety. The upper-ſide of the body is a grayiſh brown; the upper-ſide of the wings and of the tail are ſtill of a deeper brown; only it is interrupted, 1. on the wings by a white mark which croſſes it obliquely near the middle of its length, and ſometimes a few ſmall white ſpeckles are ſcattered on the fore⯑part. 2. On the tail by an edging of the ſame white colour; and laſtly, on the head with a circle of the ſame, which forms a ſort of crown^*, and extending over the eyes appears like two diſtinct eye-lids. The under-ſide of the body [290] is white from the throat as far as the end of the tail. We perceive in the figure given by Ed⯑wards a few dapples, ſome on the ſides of the neck, and others on the white of the great co⯑verts under the wings.

The Mocking Bird approaches the Red-Wing in ſize; its tail is ſomewhat tapered^*, and its feet are blackiſh; its bill is of the ſame colour, and with long briſtles that grow above the angles of its opening; laſtly, its wings are ſhorter than thoſe of our Thruſhes, but longer than thoſe of the French Mocking Bird.

It is found in Carolina, Jamaica, New Spain, &c. It in general loves the hot climates, but can ſubſiſt in the temperate. In Jamaica it is very common in the ſavannas of the woody parts of the iſland; it perches on the higheſt branch⯑es, and chants its ſong. It often builds its neſt on the ebony trees. Its eggs are ſpotted with brown. It feeds on cherries and the berries of the white-thorn and cornel tree^†, and even on inſects. Its fleſh is eſteemed excellent. It is not eaſily raiſed in a cage; but this may be accompliſhed by care and kind treatment. It is beſides a fa⯑miliar bird, which ſeems to be fond of man, ap⯑proaches his dwellings, and even perches on the chimney tops.

In the ſubject which Sloane diſſected, the ſto⯑mach was a little muſcular, the liver whitiſh, and [291] the inteſtines were folded in a vaſt number of circumvolutions. ^A

The BLACKBIRD ^*.
• Le Merle, Buff. , • Turdus Merula, Linn. and Gmel. , and • Merula, Belon, Geſner, Briſſ. &c. 

THE adult male of this ſpecies is of a deeper and purer black than the Raven, and hence its Engliſh name. Indeed, except the orbits, the talons, and the ſole of the foot, which have always a yellow caſt, it is entirely black in every poſition. In the female, on the contrary, the ſame decided black is not ſpread through the whole of the plumage; it is mixed with dif⯑ferent ſhades of brown, ferruginous, and gray, the bill is but ſeldom yellow, and the ſong is different from that of the male;—all theſe cir⯑cumſtances combined have made it be miſtaken for a bird of another ſpecies.

When they are ſhut up with other birds, their natural inquietude degenerates into petulance; they purſue and continually haraſs their com⯑panions in ſlavery; and for that reaſon they cannot be admitted into voleries, where ſeveral kinds of ſmall birds are kept.

They may be raiſed apart for the ſake of their ſong; not indeed on account of their na⯑tural muſic, which is hardly tolerable except in the fields, but becauſe they have a facility of im⯑proving their notes and of learning others, of imitating tones of different inſtruments^*, and even the human voice^†.

As the Blackbirds, like the Thruſhes, early engage in love, they ſoon begin to warble; and [294] as they have more than one hatch, they chant before the vernal warmth, and continue their ſtrain when the other ſongſters of the grove droop in ſilence. This circumſtance has-led ſome to fancy that they never ſuffer any change of plumage; but ſuch a ſuppoſition is neither true nor probable^*. They are found in the woods, towards the end of the ſummer, in moult, ſome having their head entirely bald: Olina and the author of the Britiſh Zoology ſay, that, like the other birds, it is ſilent during that time; the latter adds, that ſometimes it renews its ſong in the beginning of winter, but moſt commonly it has in that ſeaſon only a harſh diſcordant cry.

The ancients pretended that in winter its plumage changed into rufous^†; and Olina, one of the moderns the beſt acquainted with the birds which he deſcribes, ſays, that this happens in autumn: whether it be becauſe this alteration of colour is the effect of moulting, or that the females and the young Blackbirds, which really incline to rufous rather than to black, are then more numerous and oftener ſeen than the adult males.

Theſe birds make their firſt hatch in the end of winter; it conſiſts of five or ſix eggs of a bluiſh green, with frequent and indiſtinct ſpots [295] of a ruſt colour. This firſt hatch ſeldom pro⯑ſpers, becauſe of the ſeverity of the weather; the ſecond ſucceeds better, though it is only of four or five eggs. The Blackbirds neſt is con⯑ſtructed nearly like that of the Thruſhes, except that it is lined with a matting. It is com⯑monly placed in buſhes or trees of a moderate height. They would ſeem naturally diſpoſed to place it near the ground; and experience alone of the danger of ſuch a ſituation inſtructs them to give it ſome elevation^*. A neſt was brought to me only once, which had been found in the trunk of a hollow pear-tree.

Moſs, which always occurs on the trunk, and mud, which is to be found at the foot of the tree, or in its neighbourhood, are the mate⯑rials that form the body of the neſt. Stalks of graſs and ſmall roots are the ſofter ſubſtances with which they line it; and they labour with ſuch aſſiduity that in eight days they complete the work. The female hatches alone, and the male is no farther concerned than in providing her ſubſiſtence. The Author of the Treatiſe on the Nightingale affirms, that he has ſeen a young Blackbird of the ſame year, but already ſtrong, cheerfully engage in rearing the infant [296] brood of its own ſpecies; but he does not in⯑form us of its ſex.

I have remarked that the young drop their feathers more than once the firſt year; and that, at each time, the plumage of the male becomes blacker, and the bill yellower, beginning at its baſe. With regard to the females, they retain, as I have ſaid, the colours of infancy, as they alſo retain moſt of its qualities. However, the inſide of their mouth and throat is yellow, like the males; and in both may be perceived a fre⯑quent motion of the tail upwards and down⯑wards, with a ſlight ſhudder of the wings, ac⯑companied by a feeble broken cry.

Theſe birds do not leave the country in win⯑ter^*, but chooſe ſituations the beſt ſheltered, ſet⯑tling commonly in the thickeſt woods, eſpecially when theſe are ſupplied with perennial ſprings, and conſiſt of evergreens, ſuch as pines, firs, laurels, cypreſſes, myrtles, junipers, which both afford them ſubſiſtence, and protect them from the rigour of the ſeaſon. They ſometimes ſeek for cover and food in our gardens.

[297] The wild Blackbirds feed on all ſorts of ber⯑ries, fruits, and inſects; and as no country is ſo ſterile as not to afford ſome of theſe, and as the Blackbird is reconciled to all climates, it is found in almoſt every part of the world, but va⯑rying according to the impreſſions which it re⯑ceives.

Thoſe which are kept in the cage, eat fleſh alſo, either dreſſed or minced, bread, &c. but it is ſaid that the kernels of pomegranates prove poiſonous to them as to the Thruſhes. They are very fond of bathing, and they muſt have plenty of water in the voleries. Their fleſh is good, and not inferior to that of the Miſſel or the Fieldfare, and ſeems even to be preferred to that of the Throſtle and of the Red-Wing, in countries where it can require a ſucculence from the olives, and a perfume from the myr⯑tle-berries. The birds of prey are as fond of feaſting on them as man, and commit an equal havoc: without that their multiplication would be exceſſive. Olina fixes their period of life at ſeven or eight years.

I diſſected a female, which was taken on its eggs about the 15th of May, and which weighed two ounces and two gros. In the ovarium was a cluſter conſiſting of a great number of unequal ſized eggs; the largeſt two lines in diameter, and of an orange colour; the ſmalleſt were of a lighter colour, and of a ſubſtance leſs opaque, and about one-third of a line in diameter. Its [298] bill was quite yellow, alſo the tongue and the whole inſide of the mouth, the inteſtinal tube ſeventeen or eighteen inches long, the gizzard very muſcular, and preceded by a bag formed by the dilatation of the oeſophagus; the gall blad⯑der oblong, and the coecum wanting. ^A

The RING OUZEL ^*.
• Le Merle a Plaſtron Blanc, Buff. , • Turdus Torquatus, Linn. and Gmel. , and • Merula Torquata, Briſſ. Ray, and Will. 

THIS ſpecies is marked above the breaſt with a horſe-ſhoe, which, in the male, is of a very bright white, but in the female is of a dirty tawny colour; and as the reſt of the fe⯑male's plumage is a rufous brown, the horſe-ſhoe appears much leſs diſtinct, and is ſometimes en⯑tirely obſcured^†. Hence ſome nomenclators have imagined that the female belonged to a par⯑ticular ſpecies, which they termed The Mountain Blackbird.

The Ring Ouzel much reſembles the com⯑mon Blackbird; the ground colour of their plumage is black, the corners and the inſide of their bill yellow; they are nearly of the ſame ſize and the ſame port: but the former diſtin⯑quiſhed by the horſe-ſhoe, by the white enamel of its plumage, chiefly on the breaſt, belly, and wings^‡; by its bill, which is ſhorter and not [300] ſo yellow; by the ſhape of the middle-quills of the wings, which are ſquare at the end, with a ſmall projecting point in the centre, formed by the extremity of the ſhaft; laſtly, by its cry^*, which is different, as alſo its habits and diſpo⯑ſitions. It is a real bird of paſſage, though its route cannot be preciſely traced. It follows the chain of the mountains, but does not keep in any certain track^†. It ſeldom appears in the neighbourhood of Montbard, except in the be⯑ginning of October, when it arrives in ſmall bodies of twelve or fifteen, and never in larger numbers. Theſe ſeem to be a few families that have ſtraggled from the great body; they ſel⯑dom ſtay more than two or three weeks, and on the ſlighteſt froſt entirely diſappear. But I muſt own that Klein informs us that theſe birds were brought to him alive in winter. They repaſs about April or May, at leaſt in Burgundy, Brie^‡, and even in Sileſia and in Friſia, accord⯑ing to Geſner.

It is uncommon for the Ring Ouzels to in⯑habit the plains in the temperate part of Europe; [301] yet Salerne affirms that their neſts have been found in Sologne and in the foreſt of Orleans; that theſe neſts were not conſtructed like thoſe of the ordinary Blackbird; that they contained five eggs of the ſame ſize and colour (a circum⯑ſtance different from what happens in the Black⯑birds); that theſe birds breed in the ground at the foot of buſhes, and hence probably they are called Buſh-Birds or Terrier Black-birds ^*. Certain it is that in ſome ſeaſons of the year they are very frequent on the lofty mountains of Sweden, of Scotland, of Auvergne, of Savoy, of Switzerland, of Greece, &c. It is even probable that they are ſpread in Aſia, and in Africa as far as the Azores; for this ſpe⯑cies, ſo ſocial, ſo fond of dwelling in mountains, and having its plumage marked with white, correſponds well to what Tavernier ſays of the flocks of Blackbirds which paſs from time to time on the frontiers of Media and Armenia, and rid the country of graſshoppers. It alſo agrees with the account which Adanſon gives of thoſe Blackbirds ſpotted with white, which he ſaw on the ſummits of the mountains in the iſland of Fayal, keeping in flocks among the arbutes, on the fruit of which they fed, chatter⯑ing continually^†.

Thoſe which ramble in Europe ſubſiſt like-wiſe on berries. Willughby found in their ſto⯑mach [302] veſtiges of inſects, and berries reſembling goodſeberries; but they prefer thoſe of ivy and grapes. It is in the ſeaſon of vintage that they are generally ſo fat, and their fleſh ſo ſavoury and ſucculent.

Some fowlers ſay that the Ring Ouzels at⯑tract the Thruſhes; they remark too that they allow themſelves to be more eaſily approached than the common Blackbirds, though they are more difficult to decoy into ſnares.

I found, on diſſection, that their gall-bladder is oblong, very ſmall, and conſequently quite different from what Willughby deſcribes it to be; but the ſituation and form of the ſoft parts, it is well known, are very ſubject to vary in animals. The ventricle was muſcular, its inner coat wrinkled as uſual, and inadheſive. In this membrane I ſaw fragments of juniper berries and nothing elſe. The inteſtinal canal, mea⯑ſured between its two extreme orifices, was about twenty inches; the ventricle or gizzard was placed between the fourth and fifth of its length. Laſtly, I perceived ſome traces of caecum, of which one appeared to be double. ^A

The ROSE-COLOURED OUZEL ^*.
• Le Merle Couleur de Roſe, Buff. , • Turdus Roſeus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Merula Roſea, Briſſ. Ray, and Will. , • Sturnus Roſeus, Scopoli. , and • The Roſe, or Carnation-coloured Ouzel, Penn. 

The plumage of the male is remarkable; its head and neck, and the quills of its wings and of its tail, are black, with brilliant reflexions which play between green and purple. The belly, the back, the rump, and the ſmall co⯑verts of the wings are of a roſe colour, which has two tints, the one light, the other deep, with a few black ſpots ſcattered here and there on a kind of ſcapulary, which deſcends above as far as the tail, and below to the abdomen. Beſides, its head is ornamented with a ſort of creſt which reclines like that of the Chatterer, and which muſt have a fine effect when the bird erects it.

The lower belly, the inferior coverts of the tail and the thighs are of a brown colour; the tarſus and the toes of a dirty orange; the bill partly black, and partly fleſh-coloured. But the diſtribution of theſe colours ſeems not fixed in that part; for in the ſubjects which we have ob⯑ſerved, and in thoſe of Aldrovandus, the baſe of the bill was blackiſh, and all the reſt of a fleſh colour; whereas in thoſe examined by Edwards, the point of the bill exhibited the black, which changed by degrees into a dirty orange on the baſe of the bill and on the legs. The under-ſide of the tail ſeemed marbled, the effect produced by the colour of its lower coverts, which are blackiſh and tipt with white.

[308] In the female the head is black like that of the male, but not the neck, nor the quills of the tail and of the wings, which are of a lighter tinge; the colours of the ſcapulary are alſo leſs vivid.

This bird is rather ſmaller than the common Blackbird; its bill, wings, legs, and toes, are pro⯑portionably longer. In ſize, figure, and even inſtinct, it is much more analogous to the Ring-Ouzel, for it likewiſe migrates. However, we muſt own, that one of theſe Roſe-coloured Ouz⯑els, which was killed in England, kept com⯑pany with yellow-billed Blackbirds. Its length, from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, is ſeven inches and three-quarters, and to the ex⯑tremity of the nails ſeven and a half; its alar ex⯑tent thirteen or fourteen, and its wings, when cloſed, reached almoſt to the middle of the tail. ^A

The ROCK BLACKBIRD ^*.
• Le Merle de Roche, Buff. , • Turdus Saxatilis, Gmel. , • Lanius Infauſtus, Gmel. , • Merula Saxatilis, Ray, Will. and Briſſ. , • The Greater Red-Start, Alb. , and • The Rock Crow, Penn. 

THE name indicates ſufficiently the haunts of this bird: it inhabits precipices and moun⯑tains; it is found in the wildeſt parts of Bugey; it ſits commonly on the large ſtones, and conſtantly without cover; ſo that it is difficult to get near it with a fowling-piece, for as ſoon as it perceives the perſon, it removes to another place. Its ſhy⯑neſs ſeems to be leſs owing to native wildneſs, than to its apprehenſions of man, and its expe⯑rience of his artifices. Nor is it ſo much ex⯑poſed as many other birds to danger from that quarter. The loſs of liberty alone is what it has to dread; for though excellent eating, it is more prized on account of its ſong, which is ſoft, va⯑ried, and much like that of the Pettychaps. It ſoon acquires the notes of other birds, and even learns our muſic. It begins by day-break, and welcomes the return of the morning; and it re⯑news its ſtrain with the ſetting ſun. If during the night we go near its cage with a light, it [310] immediately ſings; and in the day-time, if it is not warbling, it ſeems humming and preparing new airs.

Theſe birds conceal their neſts with the utmoſt care, and build them in the holes of the rocks, and in the bottom of the moſt inacceſſible ca⯑verns. It is with the greateſt difficulty and ha⯑zard that we can ſcramble to theſe, which they defend with courage, darting at the eyes of their plunderers.

Each hatch contains three or four eggs. They feed their young with worms and inſects, on which they live themſelves. They can ſubſiſt however on other food, and when they are raiſed in a cage, it ſucceeds well to give them the ſame paſte as the Nightingales. But they muſt be taken from the neſt; for after they have flown, they cannot be enticed into any kind of ſnare; and if they be caught by ſurpriſe, they will never ſurvive their liberty^*.

The Rock Blackbirds are found in many parts of Germany, in the Alps, in the mountains of Tyrol, in thoſe of Bugey, &c. I received a female of this ſpecies caught on its eggs the 12th of May; it had built its neſt on a rock in the neighbourhood of Montberd, where theſe birds are very rare and quite unknown; its colours were not ſo bright as thoſe of the male. This laſt is rather ſmaller than the common Black-bird, and entirely different in its proportions. [311] Its wings are very long, ſuch as would ſuit a bird that neſtles in the bottom of caverns; they meaſure thirteen or fourteen inches when ex⯑panded, and if cloſed they reach almoſt to the end of the tail, which is only three inches in length. The bill is about an inch.

With regard to the plumage, the head and neck are covered as it were with a cinereous cowl, variegated with ſmall ruſty ſpots. The back is darker near the neck, and lighter near the tail. The ten lateral quills of the tail are ferruginous, and the intermediate brown. The wing-quills and their coverts are of a duſky co⯑lour, and edged with a lighter tinge. Laſtly, the breaſt, and all the lower-part of the body, orange, variegated with ſmall ſpeckles, ſome white, others brown; the bill and legs are blackiſh. ^A

The BLUE OUZEL ^*.
• Le Merle Bleu, Buff. , • Turdus Cyanus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Merula Coerulea, Briſſ. , • Turdus Solitarius, Klein. , • Cyanos, ſeu Coerulea Avis, Ray. , • The Indian Mock-Bird, Will. , • The Solitary Sparrow, Edw. , and • The Blue Thruſh, Lath. 

THIS bird has the ſame ground colour with the Rock Blackbird; that is, a cinereous blue, without any mixture of orange; the ſame ſize, the ſame proportions nearly, the ſame taſte for certain kinds of food, the ſame ſong, the ſame habit of ſettling on the ſummits of mountains, and of building its neſt in the moſt craggy rocks. In ſhort, we might be inclined to refer it to the ſame ſpecies. Accordingly, many naturaliſts have miſtaken the one for the other. The co⯑lours of its plumage vary ſomewhat in the de⯑ſcriptions, and it is probably ſubject to real va⯑riations, ariſing from the difference of the indi⯑viduals, that of age, of ſex, of climate, &c. The male which Edwards has delineated, Pl. XVIII. was not of an uniform blue throughout; the tinge of the upper-part of the body was deeper []

[313] than that of the lower; the quills of its tail blackiſh, thoſe of its wings brown, and alſo the great coverts, which are edged with white; its eyes ſurrounded by a yellow circle, the inſide of its mouth orange, its bill and legs of a brown verging on black. There would ſeem to be more uniformity in the plumage of the female.

Belon, who ſaw ſome of theſe birds at Ra⯑guſa in Dalmatia, tells us, that they are alſo found in the iſlands of Negropont, Candia, Zante, Corfu, &c.; that they are very much ſought for, on account of their ſong; but he adds, that they do not inhabit France or Italy. How⯑ever, the arm of the ſea which ſeparates Dal⯑matia from Italy is no inſurmountable barrier, eſpecially to theſe birds, which, according to Belon himſelf, fly much better than the com⯑mon Blackbird, and which could at leaſt make the circuit and penetrate into Italy by the State of Venice. Beſides, it is a fact that theſe Ouzels are found in Italy; the one deſcribed by Briſſon, and that figured in our Pl. Enl. No. 250, were both ſent from that country. Edwards had learnt from current report that they neſtled on inacceſſible rocks, or old de⯑ſerted towers^*, and he ſaw ſome which were [314] killed near Gibraltar; from which he infers, with great probability, that they are ſpread through the whole of the ſouth of Europe. But this muſt be underſtood of the mountainous tracts, for it is rare to find them in the plains. They commonly lay four or five eggs, and their fleſh, eſpecially when they are young, is rec⯑koned good eating^*. ^A

The SOLITARY OUZEL ^*.
• Le Merle Solitaire, Buff. , • Turdus Solitarius, Linn. and Gmel. , • Merula Solitaria, Briſſ. , • Paſſer Solitarius, Ray. , and • The Solitary Thruſh, Lath. 

THIS alſo is an inhabitant of the mountains, and famous for its elegant ſtrains. It is well known that Francis I. king of France, took ſingular pleaſure in liſtening to it; and even at preſent the male of this ſpecies is tamed and ſold at a very high price at Geneva and Milan^†, and ſtill dearer at Smyrna and Conſtantinople^‡. The native warble of the Solitary Ouzel is ex⯑tremely liquid and tender, but rather plaintive, as muſt be the ſong of every bird which leads a lonely exiſtence. It remains always ſingle, ex⯑cept in the ſeaſon of love. At that joyous pe⯑riod, the male and female not only aſſociate to⯑gether, [316] but deſert in company the wild and dreary heights where they had lived ſeparately, and reſort to the milder abodes of man. They ſeem to ſeek ſpectators of their pleaſures, and come forward in thoſe intoxicating moments, when other animals court the ſilence of retreat. But they lodge at a conſiderable height above the ſurface, and thus in the midſt of population they ſhun the dangers to which they would be expoſed. They build their neſt with ſtalks of graſs and feathers in the top of a ſeparate chim⯑ney, or on the ruins of an old caſtle, or on the ſummit of a large tree, and almoſt always near a ſteeple or lofty tower. The male ſits whole hours or days upon the vane or weather-cock, and ſoothes the tedious ſituation of his mate by a continual warble; but pathetic as are his ſtrains, they are ſtill inſufficient to expreſs the warmth and tenderneſs of his emotions. A ſolitary bird feels more delicately and ardently than others. Sometimes he riſes chanting, flap⯑ping his wings, diſplaying the feathers of his tail, briſtling thoſe on his head, and panting with delight, he deſcribes many circles in the air round his beloved mate as the centre.

If the female be ſcared by any uncommon noiſe, or by the ſight of any new object, ſhe re⯑tires into her fort, but ſoon returns to the neſt, which ſhe never abandons.

As ſoon as the young are hatched, the male ceaſes to ſing, but not to love; he gives another [317] proof of his affection by ſharing in the trouble of rearing the brood, and bringing proviſions in his bill. In animals the ardor of love is ever proportioned to the tenderneſs for the off-ſpring.

They commonly lay five or ſix eggs; they feed their young with inſects, on which, and on grapes, they ſubſiſt themſelves^*. They arrive in April in thoſe countries where they paſs the ſummer, and depart about the end of Auguſt; they return every year to the ſame ſpot where they firſt fixed their abode. It is uncommon to ſee more than two pairs ſettled in the ſame tract^†.

The young, when they are taken out of the neſt, are capable of inſtruction, and they learn to chant or to prattle. They begin to ſing at midnight, on the approach of the light of a candle. When well-treated they can live in a cage eight or ten years. They are found on the mountains in France and Italy^‡, in almoſt all the iſlands of the Archipelago, eſpecially in Zira and Nia, where it is ſaid they neſtle among the heaps of ſtones^§, and in the iſland of Cor⯑ſica, where they are not conſidered as birds of paſſage^‖. But in Burgundy, thoſe which ar⯑rive [318] in the ſpring, and lodge on the chimney tops, and in ruined churches, were never known to ſpend the winter in that province. The So⯑litary Ouzel may not migrate in Corſica, and yet flit from one part to another, according to the change of ſeaſons, as it does in France.

The ſingular habits of this bird, and the charms of its ſong, have inſpired in the people a ſort of veneration for it. I know ſome places where it is looked upon as lucky, where they would hardly ſuffer its neſt to be diſturbed, and dread its death as a public misfortune.

The Solitary Ouzel is rather ſmaller than the common Blackbird, but its bill is ſtronger and more hooked near the point, and the legs are ſhorter in proportion. Its plumage is brown of different ſhades, and ſpeckled throughout with white, except on the rump, and on the feathers of the wings and tail. Alſo, its neck, throat, breaſt, and the coverts of the wings, are in the male of a blue tinge, with purple reflexions, en⯑tirely wanting in the female, which is of an uni⯑form brown, with yellowiſh ſpeckles. In both, the iris is of an orange yellow, the opening of the noſtrils wide, the edges of the bill ſcalloped near the tip, as in almoſt all the Blackbirds and Thruſhes; the inſide of the mouth yellow, the tongue parted into three threads, of which the mid one is the longeſt; twelve quills in the tail, nineteen in each wing, the firſt of which is very ſhort: laſtly, the firſt phalanx of the outer toe [319] is joined to that of the middle one. The total length of the bird is eight or nine inches; its alar extent twelve or thirteen; its tail three; its leg thirteen lines; and its bill fifteen; the wings, when cloſed, reach beyond the middle of the tail. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE SOLITARY OUZEL.

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE EUROPEAN BLACKBIRDS.

The GRISIN of Cayenne.

THE top of the head is blackiſh, the throat black; and this black colour extends from the eyes as far as the lower-part of the breaſt: it has a ſort of white eye-brows, which appear diſtinct on the duſky ground, and connect the eyes by a white line, which borders the baſe of the upper mandible. All the upper-part of the body is cinereous gray; the tail is deeper, and terminated with white; its lower coverts and the belly are alſo white; the coverts of the wings are blackiſh, and their limits accurately defined by a white border. The quills of the wings are edged without with light gray, and tipt with white; the bill is black, and the legs cinereous.

This bird is not larger than a Pettychaps; its length is about four inches and a half, its bill ſeven lines, its legs the ſame, and its wings reach to the middle of its tail, which is rather tapered.

In the female, the upper-part of the body is more cinereous than in the male; what is black in the latter is only blackiſh in the former, and for that reaſon the edge of the coverts of the wings is not ſo perceptible on the ground colour.

The VERDIN of Cochin China.
• Turdus Cochinchinenſis, Gmel. , and • The Black-chinned Thruſh, Lath. 

THE name of this bird ſufficiently marks its predominant colour. The green is ſhaded with a tinge of blue on the tail, on the outer edge of the great quills of the wings, and on the ſmall coverts near the back. The throat is velvet black, except the two ſmall blue ſpots which ap⯑pear on both ſides of the lower mandible. This black extends behind the corners of the mouth, and riſes on the upper mandible, where it occu⯑pies the ſpace between its baſe and the eye, and below it is ſurrounded by a ſort of yellow high cape that falls on the breaſt; the belly is green, the bill black, and the legs blackiſh. This bird is nearly of the ſize of the Goldfinch. I could not meaſure its length, becauſe the tail was not fully grown when the bird was killed.

The bill is ten lines in length, and appears ſhaped like that of the Blackbirds, its edges be⯑ing ſcalloped near the point. This little Black⯑bird is certainly a native of Cochin China, for it was found in the ſame box with the Muſk Ani⯑mal, ſent directly from that country.

The AZURIN.

THIS bird is undoubtedly not a Blackbird, for it has neither the appearance nor the ſhape of one. However, there is ſome reſemblance in the form of the bill, the legs, &c. It has been called the Guiana Blackbird. I wait till travellers, ardent in the purſuit of Natural Hiſ⯑tory, make us acquainted with its true name, and, above all, with its habits. To judge from the little that is known of it, that is, from its ex⯑ternal appearance, I ſhould range it between the Jays and the Blackbirds.

Three broad bars of fine velvet black, parted by two bars of orange-yellow, cover entirely the upper-part and the ſides of the head and of the neck. The throat is pure yellow, the breaſt de⯑corated with a large blue plate; all the reſt of the lower-part of the body, including the infe⯑rior coverts of the tail, is radiated tranſverſely with theſe two laſt colours, and the blue appears alone on the quills of the tail, which are ta⯑pered. The upper-part of the body from the origin of the neck, and the neareſt coverts of the wings, are of a reddiſh brown; the moſt remote coverts are black, as are alſo the wing-quills: but ſome of the firſt have beſides a white ſpot, whence riſes a ſtripe of the ſame colour, [372] deeply indented, and which runs almoſt parallel to the margin of the cloſed wing. The bill and legs are brown.

This bird is rather larger than a Blackbird; its whole length is eight inches and a half, its tail is two and a half, its bill twelve lines, and its legs eighteen. The wings, when cloſed, reach almoſt to the middle of the tail.

The SHORT TAIL.
• Les Breves, Buff. 

NATURE has eſtabliſhed important diſtinc⯑tions between theſe birds and the Black-birds; and I therefore do not heſitate to range them ſeparately. The ſhortneſs of the tail, the thickneſs of the bill, and the length of the legs, are characteriſtic features; and theſe muſt in⯑volve other differences in their port, their habits, and perhaps in their diſpoſitions.

We are acquainted with only four birds of this ſpecies; I ſay ſpecies, for the reſemblance in the plumage is ſo exact, that they muſt be regarded as varieties only of a common ſtem. In all of them the neck, the head, the tail, are black or partly black; the upper-part of the body is green of various intenſity; the ſuperior coverts of the wings and tail are of a fine beryl colour, with a white or whitiſh ſpot on the great quills of the wing; laſtly, in all, except that of the Philip⯑pines, the lower part of the body is yellow.

I. The SHORT-TAIL PHILIPPINE^*. Its head and neck are covered with a ſort of cowl entirely black, the tail of the ſame colour; the under-part of the body, including the coverts and the ſmall quills of the wings neareſt the back, of a deep green; the breaſt and the top of [374] the belly of a lighter green; the lower belly and the coverts of the tail of a roſe colour; the great quills of the wings black at their origin and at their extremity, and marked with a white ſpot between the two; the bill yellowiſh brown, and the legs orange.

The whole length of the bird is only ſix inches and a quarter, becauſe of its ſhort tail; but it is more than eight inches, when meaſured from the point of its bill to the end of its feet. It is nearly as large as the common Blackbird; its wings are twelve inches acroſs, and reach be⯑yond the tail, which is only twelve lines long; the legs are eighteen.

II. The SHORT TAIL which Edwards has figured, Pl. 324, by the name of Short-tailed Pie of the Eaſt-Indies ^*. Its head is not entirely black; it has only three bars of that colour riſing from the baſe of the bill, the one ſtretching over the top of the head and behind the neck, and each of the others paſſing under the eye, and deſcending on the ſides of the neck. The two laſt bars are parted from the middle one by an⯑other bar, which is divided lengthwiſe by yellow and white; the yellow being contiguous to this middle bar, and the white contiguous to the black lateral bar. Alſo, the under-part of its tail and the lower belly are roſe-coloured, like the preceding; but all the reſt of the under-part of the body is yellow, the throat white, and the [375] tail edged with green at the end. It was brought from the iſland of Ceylon.

III. The SHORT TAIL of Bengal^*. Like the firſt it has the head and neck covered with a black cowl, but on this two large orange-co⯑loured eye-brows are diſtinctly defined: all the under-part of the body is yellow, and what was black in the great quills of the wing in the two preceding birds, is in this of a deep green, like the back. This bird is ſomewhat larger than the firſt, and of the ſize of an ordinary Black-bird.

IV. The SHORT TAIL of Madagaſcar^†. The plumage of its head is alſo different from what we have juſt ſeen; the crown is of a blackiſh brown, which aſſumes a little yellow behind and on the ſides; the reſt is bounded by a half collar, which is black, and encircles the neck behind at its origin; and by two bars of the ſame colour, which riſing from the extre⯑mity of this half collar, paſs under the eyes, and terminate at the baſe of both mandibles; the tail is bordered at the end with a beryl co⯑lour; the wings are like thoſe of the firſt; the throat is mottled with white and yellow, and the under-part of the body is of a colour between yellow and brown.

The MAINATE of the Eaſt Indies ^*.
• Gracula Religioſa, Linn. and Gmel. , • Mainatus, Briſſ. , and • Minor Grakle, Lath. 

THE ſlighteſt compariſon will convince us, that this bird ought to be removed from the Blackbirds, Thruſhes, Stares, and Jackdaws, with which it has been haſtily ranged, and claſſed with the Goulin ^† of the Philippines, and eſpecially with the Martin ^‡, which belong to the ſame country, and have likewiſe naked ſpots on the head. This bird is ſcarcely larger than a common Blackbird; its plumage is entirely black, but more gloſſy on the upper-part of the body, the throat, the wings, and the tail, and has green and violet reflexions. What is moſt remarkable in the bird, is a double yellow comb, irregularly jagged, which riſes on each ſide of the head, behind the eye; the two parts recline and approach each other, and on the back of the head they are parted only by a bar of long nar⯑row []

[377] feathers, which begins at the baſe of the bill; the other feathers on the crown of the head form a ſort of black velvet. The tail, which is eighteen lines long, is yellow, but receives a reddiſh tinge near the tail; laſtly, the legs are of an orange yellow. The tail of this bird is ſhorter, and the wings longer, than in the com⯑mon Blackbird; theſe extend within half an inch of the end of the tail, and meaſure eighteen or twenty inches acroſs. The tail conſiſts of twelve quills, and of thoſe of the wing, the firſt is the ſhorteſt, and the third the longeſt.

Such is the Mainate, No. 268, Pl. Enl.—But we muſt own that this ſpecies is ſubject to great variety, both in its plumage, in its ſize, and in the double comb which characterizes it. Before entering into detail, I ſhall mention that the Mainate has great talents for whiſtling, chant⯑ing, and even ſpeaking; that its pronunciation is more free than that of the Parrot; that it has been called by diſtinction the Speaking Bird, and that its garrulity becomes troubleſome^*.

The GOULIN ^*.
• Gracula Calva, Linn. and Gmel. , • Merula Calva Philippenſis, Briſſ. , and • The Bald Grakle, Lath. 

THERE are two ſpecimens of this ſpecies in the Royal Cabinet. In both, the upper-part of the body is of a light ſilver-gray, the tail and wings darker, each eye encircled by a bit of ſkin entirely bare, and forming an irregular ellipſe, inclined on its ſide, the eye being the inner focus: laſtly, on the crown of the head is a line of blackiſh feathers, which runs between theſe two ſkins; but one of theſe birds is much larger than the other. The largeſt is nearly of the bulk of the common Blackbird; the under-part of its body is brown, varied with ſome white ſpots, the naked ſkin which ſurrounds the eyes fleſh-coloured, the bill, the legs, and the nails, black. In the ſmaller, the under-part of [381] the body is of a yellowiſh brown; the bald parts of the head yellow, and alſo the legs, the nails, and the anterior part of the bill. Poivre informs us, that this naked ſkin, ſometimes yellow, ſome⯑times fleſh-coloured, which ſurrounds the eyes, is painted with a bright orange when the bird is angry; and this muſt probably happen likewiſe in the ſpring, when the bird burns with a paſ⯑ſion as impetuous but more gentle. I retain the name of Goulin, which it receives in the Philip⯑pines, becauſe it is diſtinguiſhed from the Black⯑bird not only by the bald part on its head, but by the ſhape and thickneſs of its bill.

Sonnerat has brought from the Philippines a bald bird, which reſembles much the one figured No. 200, Pl. Enl. but differs in the ſize and plumage. It is near a foot in length; the two bits of naked ſkin which encircle the eyes are fleſh-coloured, and parted from the crown of the head by a line of black feathers, which runs between them. All the other feathers which ſurround this naked ſkin are alſo of fine black; and ſo is the under-part of the body, the wings, and the tail: the upper-part of the body is gray, but this colour is lighter on the rump and neck, deeper on the back and the loins. The bill is blackiſh; the wings very ſhort, and ſcarcely extend beyond the origin of the tail. If the two bald Blackbirds in the Royal Cabinet belong to the ſame ſpecies, we muſt regard the larger as a young ſubject, which had not attained its full [382] growth, or received its true colours, and the ſmaller as one ſtill younger.

Theſe birds commonly neſtle in the holes of trees, eſpecially on the cocoa-nut tree; they live on fruits, and are very voracious, which has given riſe to the vulgar notion, that they have only one inteſtine, which extends ſtraight from the orifice of the ſtomach to the anus^*.

The PARADISE GRAKLE.
• Le Martin, Buff. , • Paradiſea Triſtis, Linn. and Gmel. , • Gracula Triſtis, Lath. Ind. , and • Merula Philippenſis, Briſſ. 

THIS bird feeds upon inſects, and the havoc which it makes is the more conſiderable, as it has a gluttonous appetite: the various ſorts of flies and caterpillars are its prey. Like the Carrion Crows and Magpies, it hovers about the horſes, the oxen, and the hogs, in ſearch of the vermin which often torment theſe animals to ſuch a degree as to exhauſt them, and even oc⯑caſion death. The patient Quadrupedes are glad to get rid of theſe, and ſuffer, without mo⯑leſtation, often ten or twelve Paradiſe Grakles to perch on their back at once: but the intruders are not content with this indulgence; the ſkin need not be laid bare by ſome wound; the birds will peck with their bill into the raw fleſh, and do more injury than the vermin which they ex⯑tract. They may indeed be conſidered as car⯑nivorous birds, whoſe prudence directs them to attack openly none but the weak and the feeble. A young one was known to ſeize a rat two inches long, excluſive of the tail, daſh it re⯑peatedly againſt the board of its cage, break the [384] bones, and reduce every limb to a pliancy ſuited to its views; and then lay hold of it by the head, and almoſt in an inſtant ſwallow it entire. It reſted about a quarter of an hour to digeſt it, its wings drooping, and its air languid; but, after that interval, it ran with its uſual cheerfulneſs, and about an hour afterwards, having found an⯑other rat, it ſwallowed that as it did the firſt, and with as little inconvenience.

This bird is alſo very fond of graſshoppers; and as it deſtroys immenſe quantities, it is a va⯑luable gueſt in countries curſed with theſe in⯑ſects, and it merits to have its hiſtory interwoven with that of man. It is found in India and the Philippines, and probably in the intermediate iſlands; but it has long been unknown in that of Bourbon. Not above twenty years ago, Deſ⯑forges-Boucher, Governor-general, and Poivre, the Intendant, perceiving this iſland deſolated by graſshoppers^*, deliberated ſeriouſly about the means of extirpating theſe inſects; and for that purpoſe brought ſeveral pairs of Paradiſe Gra⯑kles from India, with the view to multiply them, and oppoſe them as auxiliaries to their formi⯑dable enemies. This plan promiſed to ſucceed; when unfortunately ſome of the coloniſts, no⯑ticing theſe birds eagerly boring in the new-ſown fields, fancied that they were ſearching for grain, [385] were inſtantly alarmed, and reported through the whole iſland that the Paradiſe Grakle was pernicious. The cauſe was conſidered in form: in defence of the birds it was urged, that they raked in new-ploughed grounds, not for the grain, but on account of the inſects, and were ſo far beneficial. However, they were proſcribed by the council, and two hours after the ſentence was paſſed, not one was to be found in the iſland. This prompt execution was followed by a ſpeedy repentance. The graſshoppers gained an aſcendency, and the people, who only view the preſent, regretted the loſs of the Paradiſe Gra⯑kles. De Morave, conſulting the inclinations of the ſettlers, procured four of theſe birds eight years after their proſcription. They were re⯑ceived with tranſports of joy. Their preſerva⯑tion and breeding were made a ſtate affair; the laws held out to them protection, and the phy⯑ſicians on their part declared that their fleſh was unwholeſome. After ſo many and ſo powerful expedients, the deſired effect was produced; the Paradiſe Grakles multiplied, and the graſshop⯑pers were entirely extirpated. But an oppoſite inconvenience has ariſen; the birds, ſupported no longer by inſects, have had recourſe to fruits, and have fed on the mulberries, grapes, and dates. They have even ſcraped up the grains of wheat, rice, maize, and beans; they have rifled the pigeon-houſes, and preyed on the young; and thus, after freeing the ſettlers from the [386] graſshoppers, they have themſelves become a more dreadful ſcourge^*. Their rapid multi⯑plication renders it difficult to ſtop their pro⯑greſs; unleſs perhaps a body of more powerful rapacious birds were employed againſt them; a plan which would ſoon be attended with other difficulties. The great ſecret would be to main⯑tain a certain number of Paradiſe Grakles, and, at the ſame time, to contrive to reſtrain their farther multiplication. Perhaps an attentive ob⯑ſervation of the nature and inſtincts of graſs⯑hoppers, would ſuggeſt a method of getting rid of them, without having recourſe to ſuch ex⯑penſive auxiliaries.

Theſe birds are not timorous, and are little diſturbed by the report of a muſket. They commonly take poſſeſſion of certain trees, or even certain rows of trees, often very near ham⯑lets, to paſs the night. They alight in an even⯑ing in ſuch immenſe bodies, that the branches are entirely covered with them, and the leaves concealed. When thus aſſembled, they all be⯑gin to chatter together, and their noiſy ſociety is exceedingly troubleſome to their neighbours. Yet their natural ſong is pleaſant, varied, and ex⯑tenſive. In the morning they diſperſe into the fields, either in ſmall flocks, or in pairs, accord⯑ing to the ſeaſon.

[387] They have two hatches in ſucceſſion every year, the firſt being in the middle of ſpring. Theſe turn out well, unleſs the ſeaſon be rainy. Their neſts are very rude, and they take no pre⯑caution to prevent the wet from penetrating. They faſten them in the leaves of the palm or other trees, and whenever an opportunity pre⯑ſents, they prefer a hay-loft. Theſe birds are warmly attached to their young. When their neſts are about to be robbed, they flutter round, and utter a ſort of croaking, which indicates their rage, and dart upon the plunderer. Nor do their fruitleſs exertions extinguiſh their af⯑fection; they follow their brood, which, if ſet in a window or open place, the parents will care⯑fully ſupply with food; nor will they in the leaſt be deterred by anxiety for their own ſafety.

The young Paradiſe Grakles are quickly train⯑ed, and eaſily learn to prattle. If kept in the poultry-yard, they ſpontaneouſly mimic the cries of all the domeſtic animals, hens, cocks, geeſe, dogs, ſheep, &c. and their chattering is accom⯑panied with certain accents and geſtures, which are full of prettineſſes.

Theſe birds are rather larger than the Black⯑birds; their bill and legs are yellow as in theſe, but longer, and the tail ſhorter. The head and neck are blackiſh; behind the eye is a naked reddiſh ſkin, of a triangular ſhape, the lower-part of the breaſt, and all the upper-part of the [388] body, including the coverts of the wings and of the tail, of a cheſnut brown; the belly white, the twelve quills of the tail, and the middle quills of the wings brown; the large ones blackiſh, from the tip to the middle, and thence to their origin white; which produces an ob⯑long ſpot of that colour near the edge of each wing when it is cloſed; and in this ſituation the wings extend to two-thirds of the tail.

It is ſcarcely poſſible to diſtinguiſh the female from the male, by the external appearance^*.

The CHATTERER ^*.
• Le Jaſeur, Buff. , • Ampelis Garrulus, Linn. and Gmel. , • Garrulus Bohemicus, Ray, Will. and Klein. , • Bombycilla Bohemica, Briſſ. , • Turdus Criſtatus, Friſch. , • The Silk Tail, Ray. , and • The Bohemian Chatterer, Penn. and Lath. 

THIS bird is diſtinguiſhed from all others by the ſmall red appendices which terminate moſt of the middle quills of the wings; theſe appendices are nothing but the projection of [390] the ſhafts beyond the webs, which as they ſpread extend into the ſhape of a pallet, and aſ⯑ſume a red colour. Sometimes as many have been reckoned as eight appendices on each ſide; ſome aſſert that the males have ſeven, and the females five; others that the females have none at all^*. For my own part, I have ſeen ſpeci⯑mens which had ſeven in the one wing and five in the other; others which had only three; and others which had none; and at the ſame time exhibited other differences in the plumage. Laſtly, I have obſerved theſe appendices ſome⯑times parted longitudinally into two branches nearly equal, inſtead of forming as uſual the little pallets of a ſingle piece.

Linnaeus has, with great propriety, ſeparated this bird from the Thruſhes and Blackbirds; obſerving, beſides the ſmall red appendices which diſtinguiſh it, that its proportions are different, its bill ſhorter, more hooked, and armed with a double tooth or ſcallop, which appears near the ends of both mandibles^†. But it is not eaſy to conceive why he ſhould range it with the Shrikes, while he admits that it feeds on berries, [391] and is by no means carnivorous. There is in⯑deed a conſiderable reſemblance between theſe and the Shrikes and Red-Backs, in the diſpo⯑ſition of the colours, particularly on the head, in the ſhape of the bill, &c.; but the difference of inſtinct is more important, and ought to pre⯑clude their aſſociation.

It is not eaſy to determine the native climate of this bird. We ſhould be much deceived, if from the names of Bohemian Jay, Bohemian Chatterer, &c. we inferred with Geſner, Briſ⯑ſon, and others, that Bohemia is its principal abode. It only migrates thither, as into many other countries^*. In Auſtria, it is conceived to be a native of Bohemia and of Stiria, becauſe it enters by the frontiers of theſe regions; but in Bohemia it might be called the bird of Sax⯑ony, and in Saxony the bird of Denmark, or of other countries on the ſhores of the Baltic. The Engliſh trades aſſured Dr. Liſter, that for near a century paſt the Chatterers were very common in Pruſſia. Rzaczynſki tells us, that they viſit Great and Little Poland and Lithuania. Reau⯑mur was informed from Dreſden, that they breed in the neighbourhood of Peterſburg. Linnaeus mentions, ſeemingly on good authority, that they ſpend the ſummer, and conſequently breed, in the countries beyond Sweden; but his cor⯑reſpondents did not communicate the detail of [392] circumſtances. Laſtly, Strahlemberg told Friſch that they are found in Tartary in the holes of the rocks, and no doubt they muſt build their neſts in theſe. But whatever be the country which the Chatterers chooſe for their reſidence, where they enjoy the ſweets of exiſtence, and tranſmit them to new generations, it is certain that they are not ſedentary, but make their excurſions over all Europe. They ſometimes appear in the North of England^*, in France^†, Italy^‡, and no doubt in Spain; but this laſt is conjectural, for we muſt own that the natural hiſtory of this charming country, ſo rich and ſo contiguous, inhabited by a people ſo renowned, is not better known to us than that of California, or of Ja⯑pan^§.

The migrations of the Chatterers are in every country pretty regular with regard to the ſea⯑ſon; but if theſe be annual, as Aldrovandus was told, the birds by no means purſue con⯑ſtantly [393] the ſame route. The young Prince Adam d'Averſperg, Chamberlain of their Im⯑perial Majeſties, and one of the Lords of Bo⯑hemia, who poſſeſſes the moſt extenſive chaſe⯑grounds, and makes the nobleſt uſe of them, ſince he aims at the progreſs of Natural Hiſtory, informs us, in a Memoir addreſſed to the Count de Buffon^*, that this bird flits every three or four years^† from the mountains of Bohemia and Stiria, into Auſtria, in the beginning of the autumn; that it returns about the end of that ſeaſon; and that, even in Bohemia, not one is ſeen during the winter. However, it is ſaid, in Sileſia, the winter is the time when theſe birds are found on mountains. Thoſe which have ſtrayed into France and England appeared in the depth of the winter, but always in ſmall num⯑bers: a circumſtance which would ſhew that they were parted from the great body by ſome accident, and too much fatigued, or too young to recover their route. We might alſo infer, that France, England, and even Sweden, are not ſituated in the courſe of the principal mi⯑gration; but we cannot draw the ſame con⯑cluſion with regard to Italy, for immenſe num⯑bers of theſe birds have there been ſeveral times obſerved to arrive. This was particularly the [394] caſe in 1571, in the month of December; at that time it was not uncommon to ſee flocks of an hundred or more, and forty were often caught at once. The ſame event took place in February 1530^*, when Charles V. cauſed him⯑ſelf to be crowned at Bologna; for in countries where theſe birds appear at diſtant intervals, their viſits form an epoch in political hiſtory, eſpecially ſince when they are very numerous, they announce to the frightened imaginations of the people war and peſtilence. From theſe ca⯑lamities we muſt, however, except that of earth⯑quakes; for in 1551, when the Charterers again appeared, it was obſerved that they ſpread through Modena, Placentia, and almoſt all parts of Italy^†, but conſtantly avoided Ferrara, as if they had a preſentiment of the earthquake which happened ſoon after, and diſperſed even the birds of that country.

We cannot well aſſign the cauſe that deter⯑mines theſe birds to leave their ordinary reſi⯑dence, and to roam into diſtant climes. It is not exceſſive cold; for they are embodied for their expedition as early as the beginning of au⯑tumn; and beſides, their migration is only oc⯑caſional, happening once in three or four years, or only after ſix or ſeven years, and their nume⯑rous [395] hoſt often darkens the heavens^*. Are we to aſcribe theſe migrations to their prodigious multiplication; like the locuſts, and thoſe rats of the north called lemings; and, as has hap⯑pened to the human ſpecies, when they were leſs civilized, and conſequently ſtronger, and more independent of the equilibrium which at length eſtabliſhes itſelf between all the powers of nature? Or are the Chatterers compel⯑led repeatedly by local ſcarcity to quit their abodes, and ſeek ſubſiſtence in other climates? It is ſaid that they penetrate far into the arctic regions; and this is confirmed by Count Strah⯑lenberg, who, as we have already noticed, ſaw them in Tartary.

When the Chatterer reſides in wine countries, it ſeems fondeſt of grapes; whence Aldrovan⯑dus calls it Ampelis, or Vine Bird. Next to theſe, it feeds upon the berries of privet, of bramble, of juniper, of laurel; upon almonds, apples, ſorbs, wild gooſeberries, figs, and, in general, upon melting juicy fruits. The one which Al⯑drovandus kept near three months, would not eat ivy-berries or raw fleſh till driven to extremity, and never touched grain. That which they tried to breed in the menagerie at Vienna was fed upon crumbs of white bread, maſhed car⯑rots, bruiſed hemp-ſeed, and juniper berries, [396] which it preferred^*; but in ſpite of all the care which was taken, it lived only five or ſix days. Not that the Chatterer is difficult to tame, but that a bird, which has roamed at will, and been accuſtomed to provide its own ſubſiſtence, thrives always beſt in the ſtate of liberty. Reaumur remarks, that the Chatterers love cleanlineſs, and when confined they conſtantly void their excre⯑ments in the ſame ſpot^†.

Theſe birds are entirely of a ſocial diſpoſition; they commonly fly in flocks, and ſometimes form immenſe bodies. Beſide this general ami⯑cable turn, and independent of their attachment to the females, they are ſuſceptible of particular friendſhips to individuals of the ſame ſex. But their affectionate temper, which implies more gentleneſs than activity, more ſecurity than diſ⯑cernment, more ſimplicity than prudence, more ſenſibility than vigour, precipitates them oftener into danger than ſuch as are more ſelfiſh. Ac⯑cordingly, theſe birds are reckoned the moſt ſtupid, and they are caught in the greateſt num⯑bers. They are generally taken with the Thruſh, which migrates about the ſame time, and their fleſh has nearly the ſame taſte^‡; which is na⯑tural to ſuppoſe, ſince they live upon the ſame [397] food. I ſhall add, that many of them are killed at once, for they ſit cloſe together^*.

They utter their cry as they riſe from the ground; this is zi, zi, ri, according to Friſch, and all thoſe who have ſeen them alive; it is rather a chirrup than a ſong, and hence their name of Chatterer. Reaumur will not even admit that they can chant; but Prince d'Averſ⯑perg ſays that their notes are very pleaſant. Perhaps, in countries where they breed, they may warble in the ſeaſon of love, while they only chirp or chatter in other places; and when confined in cages they may be totally ſilent.

The plumage is agreeable when the bird is ſtill; but when it diſplays its wings, expands its tail, and erects its creſt, in the act of flying, its appearance is charming. Its eyes, which are of a beautiful red, ſhine with uncommon luſtre in the middle of the black band, in which they are placed. This black extends under the throat, and quite round the bill; the different ſhades of wine colour on its head, back, and breaſt, and the aſh colour of the rump, are ſurrounded with a frame enamelled with white, with yellow, and with red, formed by the different ſpots of the wings and tail: the latter is cinereous at its ori⯑gin, blackiſh in its middle, and yellow at its [398] end: the quills of the wings are blackiſh, the third and fourth are marked with white near the tip, the five following marked with yellow, and moſt of theſe terminated with broad tears of a red colour, of which I have ſpoken in the be⯑ginning of this article. The bill and legs are black, and ſhorter in proportion than in the Blackbird. The total length of the bird is, ac⯑cording to Briſſon, ſeven inches and three-quar⯑ters, its tail two and a quarter, its bill nine lines, its legs the ſame, and its alar extent thirteen inches. For my part, I have obſerved that the dimenſions were all greater than here ſtated; owing, perhaps, to difference of age or ſex, or even between the individuals.

I am not acquainted with the plumage of the young Chatterers, but Aldrovandus tells us that the margin of the tail is of a duller yellow in the females, and that the middle quills have whitiſh marks, and not yellow, as in the males. He adds a circumſtance which is hard to believe, though he aſſerts it from his own obſervation, that in the females the tail conſiſts of twelve quills, but in the males of ten only. It is much more credible that the male ſpecimens examined by Aldrovandus had loſt two of their quills^*.

The GROSBEAK ^*.
• Le Gros-Bec, Buff. , • Loxia-Coccothrauſtes, Linn. and Gmel. , • Coccothrauſtes, Geſner, Aldrov. Briſſ. &c. , and • The Groſbeak, or Hawſinch, Will. Edw. &c. 

THIS bird is an inhabitant of the temperate climates, from Spain and Italy, as far as Sweden. The ſpecies, though rather ſtationary, is not numerous. It appears every year in ſome of the provinces of France, and leaves them only for a ſhort time in the ſevereſt winters^†. It generally inhabits in the woods during the ſum⯑mer, and ſometimes the vineyards; and in win⯑ter it reſorts near the hamlets and farms. It is a ſilent bird which is ſeldom heard, and ſeems [402] to have no ſong or decided warble. Nor is its organ of hearing ſo perfect as that of other birds, for though it reſides in the foreſts, it can⯑not be enticed by the call. Geſner, and moſt naturaliſts after him, have ſaid, that the Groſ⯑beak is good eating. I have taſted the fleſh, but it ſeemed neither pleaſant nor juicy.

I have obſerved in Burgundy that theſe birds are much fewer in winter than in ſummer, and that great numbers of them arrive about the 10th of April in ſmall flocks, and perch among the copſes, building their neſts^* on trees, gene⯑rally at the height of ten or twelve feet, where the boughs divide from the trunk. The mate⯑rials are, like thoſe of the Turtle, dry ſticks, matted with ſmall roots. They commonly lay five bluiſh eggs ſpotted with brown. We might ſuppoſe that they breed only once a-year, ſince the ſpecies is not numerous. They feed their young with inſects, chryſalids, &c.; and when they are about to be robbed of their family, they make a vigorous defence, and bite fiercely. Their thick ſtrong bill enables them to crack nuts, and other hard ſubſtances; and though [403] they are granivorous, they alſo live much upon inſects. I have kept them a long time in vo⯑leries; they reject fleſh, but readily eat any thing elſe. They muſt be confined in a ſepa⯑rate cage, for without ſeeming at all diſcom⯑poſed, or making the leaſt noiſe, they kill the weaker birds that are lodged with them. They attack, not by ſtriking with the point of the bill, but by biting out a morſel of the ſkin. When at liberty, they live upon all ſorts of grain, and ker⯑nels of fruits; and Orioles eat the pulp of cher⯑ries, but the Groſbeaks break them to obtain the kernel; they feed alſo on fir and pine cones, and on beech maſt, &c.

This bird is ſolitary, ſhy, and ſilent; its ear is inſenſible, and its prolific powers are inferior to thoſe of moſt other birds. It ſeems to have its qualities concentrated in itſelf, and is not ſubject to any of the varieties which almoſt all proceed from the luxuriance of nature. The male and female are of the ſame ſize, and much reſemble each other. The ſpecies is uniform in our climate; but in foreign countries there exiſt many analogous birds, which ſhall be enume⯑rated in the ſucceeding article^*. ^A.[404]

The CROSSBILL ^*.
• Le Bec Croiſé, Buff. , • Loxia Curviroſtra, Linn. and Gmel. , • Loxia, Geſner, Aldrov. Briſſ. &c. , and • The Shell-Apple, or Croſsbill, Will. Edw. &c. 

THE ſpecies of the Croſsbill is cloſely related to that of the Groſbeak. Both have the ſame ſize, the ſame figure, the ſame inſtincts^†. The Croſsbill is diſtinguiſhed only by a ſort of deformity in its bill, a character, or rather a de⯑fect, which belongs to it alone of all the winged tribe. What proves that it is a defect, an error of nature rather than a permanent feature, is, that it is variable; the bill in ſome ſubjects croſſes to the left, in others to the right; but the productions of nature are regular in their de⯑velopement, and uniform in their arrangement. I ſhould therefore impute this difference of po⯑ſition to the way in which the bird has uſed its bill, according as it has been more accuſtomed to employ the one ſide or the other to lay hold of its food. The ſame takes place in men, who, [406] from habit, prefer the right hand to the left^*. Each mandible of the Croſsbill is affected by an exuberance of growth, ſo that in time the two points are parted aſunder, and the bird can take its food only by the ſide; and hence if it oftener uſes the left, the bill will protrude to the right, and vice verſâ.

But every thing has its utility, and each ſen⯑tient being learns to draw advantage even from its defects. This bill, hooked upwards and down⯑wards, and bent in oppoſite directions, ſeems to have been formed for the purpoſe of detach⯑ing the ſcales of fir-cones, and obtaining the ſeeds lodged beneath theſe, which are the principal food of the bird. It raiſes each ſcale with its lower mandible, and breaks it off with the upper; it may be obſerved to perform this manoeuvre in its cage. This bill alſo aſſiſts its owner in climbing, and it dextrouſly mounts from the lower to the upper bars of its cage. From its mode of ſcrambling, and the beauty of its colours, it has been called by ſome the Ger⯑man Parrot.

[407] The Croſsbill inhabits only the cold climates, or the mountains in temperate countries. It is found in Sweden, in Poland, in Germany, in Switzerland, and among the Alps and Pyrenees. It is quite ſtationary in countries where it lives the whole year; but ſometimes it accidentally appears in large flocks in other regions. In 1756 and 1757, great numbers were ſeen in the neighbourhood of London. They do not ar⯑rive at ſtated ſeaſons, but ſeem to be rather directed by chance, and many years paſs with⯑out their being at all obſerved. The Nut-Crack⯑ers, and ſome other birds, are ſubject to the ſame irregular migrations, which occur only once in twenty or thirty years. The only cauſe which can be aſſigned is, that they have been deprived of their uſual ſubſiſtence in the cli⯑mates where they inhabit, by the inclemency of the ſeaſon; or have been driven upon the coaſt by the violence of a ſtorm or hurricane: for they arrive in ſuch numbers, and appear ſo much exhauſted, that they are careleſs of their exiſt⯑ence, and allow themſelves to be caught by the hand.

We might preſume that the ſpecies of the Croſsbill, which prefers the cold climates, would be found in the north of the New Continent, as in that of the Old: yet no traveller to America has taken notice of it. But beſides the general preſumption which is verified by analogy, there is a fact which ſeems to prove our opinion; the [408] Croſsbill is found in Greenland, whence it was brought to Edwards by the whale-fiſhers; and that naturaliſt, who was better acquainted than any perſon with the nature of birds, remarks properly, that both the land and the water ſort which inhabit the arctic regions, appear indiffe⯑rently in the north of America or of Europe.

The Croſsbill is one of thoſe birds whoſe co⯑lours are the moſt ſubject to vary; among a great number we can ſcarcely find two indivi⯑duals that are exactly ſimilar; not only are the ſhades of the plumage different, but the poſition of the colours change with the ſeaſon and the age. Edwards, who examined a prodigious number of them, and ſought to mark the limits of variation, paints the male with a roſe co⯑lour, and the female with a yellowiſh green; but in both, the bill, the eyes, the thighs, and the legs, are preciſely the ſame in regard to ſhape and co⯑lours. Geſner tells us that he kept one of theſe birds, which was blackiſh in September, and aſſumed a red colour in October. He adds, that the parts where the red began to appear, were the under-ſide of the neck, the breaſt, and the belly; that this red afterwards became yel⯑low, and that winter eſpecially is the ſeaſon when theſe changes take place, and that, at dif⯑ferent times, it is ſaid they receive a red, yellow, green, and cinereous caſt. We muſt not, there⯑fore, with our modern nomenclators, reckon as a ſeparate ſpecies, or a particular variety, a [409] greeniſh Croſsbill ^*, found in the Pyrenees, ſince it occurs equally in other places; and in certain ſeaſons it has in all countries that colour. Ac⯑cording to Friſch, who was perfectly acquainted with theſe birds, which are common in Ger⯑many, the colour of the adult male is reddiſh, or green mixed with red; but they loſe this red, like the Linnets, when they are kept in the cage, and only retain the green, which is more deeply impreſſed both in the young and in the old. For this reaſon they are called in ſome parts of Germany krinis or grünitz, that is, greeniſh bird. The two extreme colours have not therefore been well choſen by Edwards; we muſt not infer, as his figures would ſuggeſt, that the male is red, and the female green; there is every reaſon to believe, that in the ſame ſeaſon, and at the ſame age, the female differs from the male only in the greater faintneſs of the colours.

This bird, which is ſo analogous to the Groſ⯑beak, reſembles it alſo in ſtupidity. One may approach it, fire upon it without ſcaring it, and ſometimes even catch it by the hand; and as it is equally inactive and ſecure, it falls an eaſy victim to all the birds of prey. It is mute in ſummer, and its feeble notes are only heard in winter^†. It is quite placid in captivity, and [410] lives long in a cage. It is fed with bruiſed hemp⯑ſeed, and this contributes to make it ſooner loſe its red^*. In ſummer, its fleſh is ſaid to be good eating^†.

Theſe birds delight only in the dark foreſts of pines and firs, and ſeem to dread the effulgence of day. Nor do they yield to the genial influence of the ſeaſons; it is not in ſpring, but in the depth of winter, that their loves commence. They build as early as January, and their young are grown before the other birds begin to lay. They place their neſts under the large branches of the pine, fixing them with the reſin of that tree, and beſmearing them with that ſubſtance, ſo that the melted ſnow or the rains cannot pe⯑netrate. In the young, as in thoſe of other birds, the bill, or rather corners of its opening, are yellow, and they hold it always open as long as they are fed by the mother. We are not told how many eggs they lay, but we may preſume, from their ſize and their reſemblance to the Groſ⯑beak, that the number is four or five, and that they hatch only once a-year. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, THAT ARE RELATED TO THE GROSBEAK.

The HOUSE SPARROW ^*.
• Le Moineau, Buff. , • Fringilla Domeſtica, Linn. , and • Paſſer Domeſticus, Geſner, Aldrov. Briſſ. &c. 

We ſhall alſo ſeparate from the Common or Houſe Sparrow the Field Sparrow and the Wood Sparrow; two birds more related than any of the preceding, and alſo inhabitants of our cli⯑mate; to each we ſhall allot a diſtinct article. This is ſurely the only way to avoid con⯑fuſion.

Our Sparrow is too well known to need a de⯑ſcription. It is repreſented Nos. 6 and 55. Pl. Enl. fig. 1. No. 6. is the adult male after it has caſt its feathers; and fig. 1. No. 55. the young male before moulting. The change of colour in the plumage, and in the angles of the mandibles, is general and uniform; but the ſame ſpecies is ſubject to accidental varieties; for ſome Houſe Sparrows are white, others variegated with brown and white, and others almoſt entirely black^*, and others yellow^†. The only dif⯑ference between the females and the males is, [434] that the former are ſmaller, and their colours much fainter.

Beſides theſe firſt varieties, ſome of which are general and others individual, and which occur in all the European climates, there are others in more diſtant regions; which would prove that this ſpecies is ſpread from the north to the ſouth in our continent, from Sweden^* to Egypt^†, Senegal, &c.

But in whatever country the Sparrow is ſettled, it never is found in deſert places, or at a diſtance from the reſidence of man. It likes neither woods nor vaſt plains. It is more frequent in towns than in villages; nor is it ſeen in the ham⯑lets or farms that are buried in the depth of fo⯑reſts. It follows ſociety to live at their expence; and indolence and voracity lead it to ſubſiſt on the proviſions of others. Our granaries, our barns, our court-yards, our pigeon-houſes, and, in ſhort, all places where grain is ſpilt, are its favourite reſort. It is extremely deſtructive; its plumage is entirely uſeleſs, its fleſh indifferent food, its notes grating to the ear, and its fami⯑liarity and petulance diſguſting. In ſome places Sparrows are proſcribed^‡, and a price ſet on their heads.

[435] But what will render them eternally trouble⯑ſome and vexatious, is not only their exceſſive multiplication, but their ſubtlety, their cunning, and their obſtinacy to abide in places which ſuit them. They are crafty and artful, eaſily diſtin⯑guiſh the ſnares laid for them, and wear out the patience of thoſe who try to catch them. It is only in ſeaſons of ſcarcity, and when the ſnow covers the ground, that the ſport will ſucceed; and little impreſſion can be made on a ſpecies which breeds thrice a-year. Their neſt conſiſts of hay, lined with feathers. If you deſtroy it, they will in twenty-four hours build another; if you plunder the eggs, which are five or ſix^*, often more, they will in the courſe of eight or ten days lay others; if you drive them from the trees or the houſes, they will reſort in greater numbers to your granaries. Perſons who have kept them in cages, aſſure me, that a ſingle pair of Sparrows conſume near twenty pounds of corn annually. We may judge from their num⯑bers what prodigious deſtruction they muſt make in our fields; for though they feed their young with inſects, and eat many themſelves, they principally ſubſiſt on our beſt grain. They fol⯑low the labourer in ſeed-time, and the reaper in harveſt. They attend the threſhers at the barns, and the poulterer when he ſcatters grain to his fowls. They viſit the pigeon-houſes, and even [436] pierce the craw of the young pigeons to extract the food. They eat bees, and are thus diſpoſed to deſtroy the only inſects uſeful to man. In ſhort, it is much to be wiſhed that ſome method could be deviſed for deſtroying them. I have been told, that if ſulphur were ſmoaked under the trees, where in certain ſeaſons they aſſemble and ſleep at night, they would be ſuffocated and drop dead. I have tried the experiment, with⯑out ſucceſs, though I took much pains, and was intereſted in the iſſue; for I could not get them driven from the neighbourhood of my voleries; and I perceived that they not only diſturbed the warbling of my birds, but that by the continual repetition of their harſh cry, tui, tui, they ſen⯑ſibly ſpoiled the ſong of the Canaries, Siſkins, Linnets, &c.

I then placed on a wall, covered with great Indian cheſnuts, in which the Sparrows aſſem⯑bled in great numbers in the evening, pots filled with ſulphur, mixed with a little charcoal and roſin; and theſe ſubſtances being ſet on fire, cauſed a thick ſmoke, which had no effect but to waken the birds. As the volume aſcended, they removed to the tops of the trees, and then retired to the neighbouring houſes, but not one dropped. I obſerved only that they did not for three days viſit the trees that were ſmoaked, but afterwards returned to their former habit.

As theſe birds are hardy, they can be eaſily raiſed in cages, and live ſeveral years, eſpecially [437] if the females be withheld from them^*; for it is ſaid that their exceſſive venery abridges the period of their lives. When they are taken young, they are ſo docile as to obey the voice and catch ſomewhat of the ſong of thoſe birds with which they are bred; and being naturally familiar, they become more ſo in the ſtate of captivity. But when at liberty, they are rather ſolitary; and hence, perhaps, the origin of their name^†. Since they never leave our climate, and are always about our houſes, it is eaſy to perceive that they commonly fly ſingle or in pairs. There are, however, two ſeaſons in the year when they aſſemble, not to fly in flocks, but to chirp together, in autumn on the willows by the river ſides, and in ſpring on the firs and other evergreens. They meet in the evening, and in mild weather. They ſpend the night on the trees, but in winter they are found either alone or with their females in a hole of the wall, or beneath the tiles of roofs. And it is only in exceſſive froſts that five or ſix are found lying together, probably to keep them⯑ſelves warm.

[438] The males fight obſtinately for the poſſeſſion of their females, and in the violence of their ſtruggle, they often fall to the ground. Few birds are ſo ardent, or ſo vigorous in their love. They can embrace twenty times in ſucceſſion with the ſame fire, the ſame trepidation, and the ſame expreſſions of rapture. What is ſingu⯑lar, the female firſt ſhews a degree of impa⯑tience at a ſport which muſt fatigue her leſs than the male, but which may alſo yield her leſs pleaſure, ſince there are no preludes, no ca⯑reſſes, no adjuſtment. Much petulance is ſhewn without tenderneſs, and a flutter of action which betrays only a ſelfiſh appetite. Compare the loves of the Pigeon with thoſe of the Sparrow, and you will perceive almoſt all the ſhades from the phyſical to the moral qualities.

Theſe birds neſtle commonly under the tiles, in the lead-gutters, in holes of the wall, in pots that are erected for them, and often about the ſides of windows which have Venetian blinds. A few, however, build their neſts in trees. I have re⯑ceived ſome of theſe which were found in large cheſnuts and lofty willows. They place them on the ſummit of theſe trees, and conſtruct them with the ſame materials, viz. hay on the out⯑ſide and feathers within; but what is ſingular, they add a ſort of cap above which covers the neſt, ſo as to prevent the water from penetrat⯑ing, and leave an opening for entering at under this cap. When they lodge in holes or covered [439] places, they judiciouſly diſpenſe with this cap. Inſtinct diſcovers here a ſort of reaſoning, and at leaſt implies a compariſon of two ſmall ideas. Some Houſe Sparrows, more indolent, though bolder than the reſt, do not give themſelves the trouble of building, but drive off the Martins, and poſſeſs their neſts. Sometimes they fight the Pigeons, and eſtabliſh themſelves in the holes.—This little tribe exhibit therefore habits and inſtincts more varied and perfect than moſt other birds. This reſults undoubtedly from their living in ſociety. They enjoy the benefits of the domeſtic ſtate without ſurrendering any por⯑tion of their independence. Hence that ſub⯑tlety, that circumſpection, and that accommo⯑dation of inſtinct to ſituations and circum⯑ſtances. ^A

FOREIGN BIRDS, RELATED TO THE HOUSE SPARROW.

The TREE SPARROW ^*.
• Le Friquet, Buff. , • Fringilla Montana, Linn. and Gmel. , • Paſſer Montanus, Aldrov. Ray, and Briſſ. , • Paſſerinus, Geſner. , and • The Mountain Sparrow, Will. 

THIS bird is undoubtedly of a different ſpe⯑cies from the Houſe Sparrow. Though they inhabit the ſame climate and the ſame tracts, they never aſſociate together, and their habits are, for the moſt part, diſſimilar. The Houſe Sparrow never leaves our dwellings, but lodges and breeds in the walls and roofs. The Tree Sparrow ſeldom viſits us, lives in the fields, haunts the ſides of the roads, perches on ſhrubs and low plants, and builds its neſt in crevices and holes at a little height from the ground. It is ſaid to neſtle alſo in the woods, and in the hollows of trees; but I have never ſeen them in the woods but tranſiently, and they certainly prefer the open fields. The Houſe Sparrow flies heavily, and always to ſhort diſtances; nor can it walk without hopping and making awk⯑ward movements. The Tree Sparrow, on the contrary, whirls round more ſmartly, and walks better. This ſpecies is not ſo numerous as that [446] of the Houſe Sparrow; and it is exceedingly probable that they hatch only once a-year, lay⯑ing four or five eggs; for about the end of ſum⯑mer they aſſemble in great bodies, and remain together during the winter. It is eaſy in that ſeaſon to catch them on the buſhes where they ſit.

After this bird has alighted, it is in a conti⯑nual flutter, whirling, jerking its tail upwards and downwards, performing all theſe motions with tolerable grace; and hence comes its French name friquet (friſky). Though not ſo bold as the Houſe Sparrow, it does not ſhun the pre⯑ſence of man; it often follows travellers, with⯑out ſhewing any ſigns of timidity. It flies with a wheeling motion, and always very low; for it never perches on large trees, and thoſe who have called it the Cheſnut Sparrow, have con⯑founded it with the Ring Sparrow, which really lodges on lofty trees and on cheſnuts.

This ſpecies is ſubject to variety. Many na⯑turaliſts have reckoned the Mountain Sparrow^*, the Collared Sparrow^†, the Fooliſh Sparrow of the Italians, as ſpecifically different from it. But the Fooliſh Sparrow is exactly the ſame [447] bird, and the other ſorts are only ſlight va⯑rieties^*.

What proves that the Paſſera Mattugia ^†, or Fooliſh Sparrow of the Italians, is either the Tree Sparrow, or a ſlight variety of it, diſtin⯑guiſhed only by the diſtribution of its colours, is, that Olina, who gives a figure and a deſcrip⯑tion of it, ſays, that it receives the epithet of Mattugia, becauſe it can never reſt a ſingle mo⯑ment in one place ^‡; the ſame circumſtance to which I attribute the origin of its French name. Would it not be very ſingular, that this bird, which is ſo common in France, ſhould not at all be found in Italy, as our nomenclators have ſtated? On the contrary, it would ſeem that there are more varieties of this ſpecies in Italy than in France. It inhabits therefore the tem⯑perate and warmer regions, and not the cold climates, for it is not found in Sweden. But I am ſurprized that Salerne ſhould ſay that this bird occurs not in Germany or England, ſince the naturaliſts of theſe countries have given [448] figures and deſcriptions of it. Friſch even aſ⯑ſerts, that the Tree Sparrow and the Canary bird can breed together, and that the experiment has been made in Germany.

The Tree Sparrow, though more reſtleſs than the Houſe Sparrow, is not ſo petulant, ſo fami⯑liar, or ſo voracious. It is more innocent, and not ſo deſtructive to the crops. It prefers fruits, wild ſeeds, particularly thoſe of the thiſtle, and alſo eats inſects. It avoids meeting the Houſe Sparrow, which is ſtronger and more miſchiev⯑ous. It can be raiſed in a cage, and fed like a Goldfinch; it lives five or ſix years; its ſong is very poor, but quite different from the harſh cries of the Houſe Sparrow. Though more gentle than the Houſe Sparrow, it is remarked not to be ſo docile. This is owing to its living more out of the ſociety of man^*.

FOREIGN BIRDS, WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE TREE SPARROW.

THE bird called the Wild Sparrow (Paſſereau Sauvage) in Provence, appears to be mere⯑ly a variety of the Tree Sparrow. Its ſong, ſays M. Guys, would ſeem never to end, and is quite different from that of the Houſe Sparrow. He adds, that this bird is very ſhy, and conceals its head among the ſtones, leaving its body unco⯑vered, and then fancies itſelf to be ſafe. It ſub⯑ſiſts in the fields upon grain, and ſome years it is very rare in Provence.

But beſides this and other varieties of the ſame ſort that inhabit our climates, and which we have mentioned after our nomenclators by the names of Mountain Sparrow, Collared Sparrow, Fooliſh Sparrow, there are others found in fo⯑reign climates.

The RING SPARROW ^*.
• Le Soulcie, Buff. , • Fringilla Petronia, Linn. and Gmel. , • Paſſer Sylveſtris, Briſſ. , and • Paſſer Torquatus, Aldrov. and Ray. 

THIS bird has, as well as the Tree Sparrow, been often confounded with the Houſe Sparrow, though it is of a different ſpecies. It is larger than either, its bill is ſtronger, and red rather than black, and it has no habit in com⯑mon with the Houſe Sparrow. It dwells in the woods, and hence the name that it has received from moſt of the naturaliſts^†. It neſtles in hollow trees, lays four or five eggs, and hatches only once a-year. As ſoon as the young are able to accompany the parents, that is about the end of July, they aſſociate in flocks. The Ring Sparrows are therefore collected ſix weeks earlier than the Tree Sparrows, and form alſo more nu⯑merous bodies. They remain united till the ſea⯑ſon of love, when they ſeparate with their fe⯑males in pairs. Though theſe birds are inva⯑riably ſtationary in our climate, it is probable that they dread the ſeverity of the arctic region, for Linnaeus makes no mention of them in his enumeration of the natives of Sweden. They [454] are birds of paſſage in Germany^*, and do not arrive in flocks, but only one by one^†; and what ſeems to confirm our conjecture, they are often found dead in the hollows of trees, in hard winters. They ſubſiſt not only on grain and ſeeds of all ſorts, but alſo on flies and other in⯑ſects. They are fond of the ſociety of their equals, and when they diſcover abundance of food, they invite them to partake. As they are almoſt always in numerous bodies, they do vaſt injury to newly-ſowed fields. They can ſcarcely be driven away or deſtroyed, for they partake of the caution of the Houſe Sparrow. They avoid ſnares, lime-twigs, and traps, but they can be caught in great numbers with nooſes^‡.

FOREIGN BIRDS, THAT ARE RELATED TO THE RING SPARROW.