the country. Thus the governor of Damiata circulated the news of the death of Orrilo : Tofto che'l Caftellan di Damiata Quelle andò al Cairo, ed indi fu lafciata But the fimple use of them was known in Εγώ δ' Ανακρέοντι I am now Anacreon's flave, Each foft line, with nimble wing, Taurofthenes alfo, by means of a pigeon he had decked with purple, fent advice to his father, who lived in the isle of Egina, of his victory in the Olympic games, on the very day he had obtained it. And, at the fiege of Modena, Hirtius without, and Brutus within the walls, kept, by the help of pigeons, a conftant correfpondence; baffling every ftratagem of the befieger Antony to intercept their couriers. In the times of the crufades, there are many more inftances of thefe birds of peace being employed in the fervice of war; Joinville relates one during the crufade of Saint Louis; and Taflo another, during the fiege of Jerufalem. The nature of pigeons is to be gregarious; to lay only two eggs; to breed many times in the year: to bill in their courtship; for the male and female to fit by turns, and alfo to feed their young; to caft their provifion out of their craw into the young one's meuths; to drink, not like other birds by fipping, but by continual draughts like quadrupeds; and to have notes mournful or plaintive. *As foon as the commandant of Damiata • heard that Orrilo was dead, he let loofe a pigeon, under whofe wing he had tied a letter; this fled to Cairo, from whence a fecond was difpatched to another place, as is ufual; fo that in a very few hours all Egypt was acquainted with the death of Orrilo.' ARIOSTO, canto 15. + Anacreo, ode 9.a's περιφεράν. § 9 The BLACKBIRD. This bird is of a very retired and foli. tary nature; frequents hedges and thickets, in which it builds earlier than any other bird the nest is formed of mofs, dead grafs, fibres. &c. lined or plaiftered with clay, and that again covered with hay or fmall ftraw. It lays four or five eggs of a bluish green colour, marked with irregu lar duíky fpots. The note of the male is except the woods: it begins to fing early extremely fine, but too loud for any place in the fpring, continues its mufic part of the fummer, defifts in the moulting feason; but resumes it for fome time in September, and the first winter months. The colour of the male, when it has at tained its full age, is of a fine deep black, and the bill of a bright yellow; the edges of the eye-lids yellow. When young the bill is dufky, and the plumage of a rafty black, fo that they are not to be diftinguished from the females; but at the age of one year they attain their proper colour. $10. The BULLFINCH. The wild note of this bird is not in the leaft mufical; but when tamed it becomes remarkably docile, and may be taught any tune after a pipe, or to whistle any notes in the jufteft manner: it feldom forges what it has learned; and will become in tame as to come at call, perch on its ma ter's fhoulders, and (at command) go through a difficult mufical leffon. They may be taught to speak, and fome th inftructed are annually brought to London from Germany. of The male is diftinguished from the fe male by the fuperior blacknefs of its crown, and by the rich crimson that adorns the cheeks, breaft, belly, and throat of the male: thofe of the female being of a dirty colour: the bill is black, fhort, and very thick: the head large: the hind part the neck and the back are grey: the co verts of the wings are black; the low croffed with a white line: the quill-feather dufky, but part of their inner webs white: the coverts of the tail and vent-feathe white: the tail black. gardens, and are very deftructive to In the fpring thefe birds frequent o fruit-trees, by eating the tender ba They breed about the latter end of M or beginning of June, and are feldom fees at that time near houfes, as they chufe fo very retired place to breed in. The * birds are fometimes wholly black. I have heard of a male bullfinch which had changed its colours after it had been taken in full feather, and with all its fine teints. The first year it began to affume a dull hue, blackening every year, till in the fourth it attained the deepest degree of that colour. This was communicated to me by the Reverend Mr. White of Selborne. Mr. Morton, in his Hiftory of Northamptonshire, gives another inftance of fuch a change, with this addition, that the year following, after moulting, the bird recovered its native colours. Bullfinches fed entirely on hemp-feed are aptest to undergo this change. § 11. The GOLDFINCH. This is the most beautiful of our hardbilled fmall birds: whether we confider its colours, the clegance of its form, or the -mufic of its note. The bill is white, tipt with black; the bafe is furrounded with a ring of rich scarlet feathers: from the corners of the mouth to the eyes is a black line: the cheeks are white: the top of the head is black; and the white on the cheeks is bounded almoft to the fore part of the neck with black: the hind part of the head is white: the back, rump, and breast are of a fine pale tawny brown, lightest on the two laft: the belly is white: the covert feathers of the wings, in the male, are black: the quill-feathers black, marked in their middle with a beautiful yellow; the tips white. the tail is black, but most of the feathers marked near their ends with white fpot: the legs are white. The female is diftinguithed from the male by thefe notes; the feathers at the end of the bill in the former are brown; in the male black: the leffer coverts of the wings are brown: and the black and yellow in the wings of the female are lefs brilliant. The young bird, before it moults, is grey on the head; and hence it is termed by the bird-catchers a grey-pate. There is another variety of goldfinch, which is, perhaps, not taken above once in two or three years, which is called by the London bird catchers a cheverel, from the manner in which it concludes its jerk: when this fort is taken, it fells at a very high price; it is distinguished from the common fort by a white ftreak, or by two, and fometimes three white spots under the throat. Their note is very fweet, and they are much esteemed on that account, as well as for their great docility. Toward winter they affemble in flocks, ani feed on feeds of different kinds, particularly thofe of the thiftle. It is fond of orchards, and frequently builds in an apple or pear-tree: its neft is very elegantly formed of fine mos, liver-worts, and bents on the outfide; lined first with wool and hair, and then with the golin or cotton of the fallow. It lays five white eggs, marked with deep purple fpots on the upper end. This bird feems to have been the gocouirgis of Ariftotle: being the only one that we know of, that could be diftinguifhed by a golden fillet round its head, feeding on the feeds of prickly plants. The very ingenious tranflator (Dr Martyn) of Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics, gives the name of this bird to the acalanthis or acanthis: Littoraque alcyonen refonant, acanthida dumi. In our account of the Halcyon of the ancients, we followed his opinion; but having fince met with a paffage in Ariftotle, that clearly proves that acanthis could not be ufed in that fenfe, we beg, that, till we can difcover what it really is, the word may be rendered linnet; fince it is impoffible the philofopher could diftinguish a bird of fuch itriking and brilliant colours as the goldfinch, by the epithet naxoxeoos, or bad coloured; and as he celebrates his acanthis for a fine note, any μ Toi Miyofar exec, both characters will fuit the linnet, being a bird as remarkable for the sweetness of its note, as for the plainnefs of its plumage. The bill of this fpecies is dufky, but in the fpring affumes a bluish caft: the feathers on the head are black, edged with af-colour; the fides of the neck deep athcolour: the throat marked in the middle with a brown line, bounded on each fide with a white one: the back black, bordered with reddish brown: the bottom of the breaft is of a fine blood red, which heightens in colour as the fpring advances: the belly white: the vent-feathers yellowfh: the fides under the wings fpotted with brown the quill-feathers are dusky; the lower part of the nine firft white: the co Which he places among the ἀκανθοφύγα. Scaliger reads the word pusquite, which has no meaning; neither does the critic fupport his al teration with any reafons. Hift. an. 887. 322 verts verts incumbent on them black; the others of a reddish brown; the loweft order tipt with a paler colour: the tail is a little forked, of a brown culour, edged with white; the two middle feathers excepted, which are bordered with dull red. The females and young birds want the red spot on the breaft; in lieu of that, their breasts are marked with fhort ftreaks of brown pointing downwards; the females have also lefs white in their wings. Thefe birds are much efteemed for their fong they feed on feeds of different kinds, which they peel before they eat: the feed of the linum or flax is their favourite food; from whence the name of the linnet tribe. They breed among furze and white thorn: the outfide of their neft is made with mofs and bents; and lined with wool and hair. They lay five whitish eggs, fpotted like thofe of the goldfinch. $ 13. The CANARY BIRD. This bird is of the finch tribe. It was originally peculiar to thofe ifles, to which it owes its name; the fame that were known to the ancients by the addition of the fortunate. The happy temperament of the air; the fpontaneous productions of the ground in the varieties of fruits; the fprightly and chearful difpofition of the inhabitants; and the harmony arifing from the number of the birds found there, procured them that romantic diftinction. Though the ancients celebrate the ifle of Canaria for the multitude of birds, they have not mentioned any in particular. It is probable then, that our fpecies was not introduced into Europe till after the fecond difcovery of thefe ifles, which was between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. We are uncertain when it first made its appearance in this quarter of the globe. Belon, who wrote in 1555, is filent in refpect to these birds: Gefner is the first who mentions them; and Aldrovand fpeaks of them as rarities; that they were very dear on account of the difficulty attending the bringing them from fo diftant a country, and that they were purchased by people of rank alone. Olina fays, that in his time there was a degenerate fort found on the ifle of Elba, off the coaft of Italy, which came there originally by means of a fhip bound from the Canaries to Leghorn, and was wrecked on that ifland. We once faw fome small birds brought directly from the Canary Islands, that we fufpect to be colour; but as they did not fing, we fuppofed them to be hens. These birds will produce with the goldfinch and linnet, and the offspring is called a mule-bird, because, like that animal, it proves barren. They are ftill found on the fame fpot to which we were first indebted for the production of fuch charming fongfters; but they are now become fo numerous in our country, that we are under no neceffity of croffing the ocean for them. § 14. The SKY LARK. : The fength of this fpecies is feven inches one-fourth the breadth twelve and a half: the weight one ounce and a half: the tongue broad and cloven: the bill flender: the under mandible dufky, the lower yellow : above the eyes is a yellow fpot: the crown of the head a reddish brown spotted with deep black: the hind part of the head afhcolour: chin white. It has the faculty of erecting the feathers of the head. The feathers on the back, and coverts of the wings, dufky edged with reddish brown, which is paler on the latter: the quill-feathers dulky: the exterior web edged with white, that of the others with reddish brown: the upper part of the breaft yel low fpotted with black: the lower part of the body of a pale yellow: the exterior web, and half of the interior web next to the shaft of the first feather of the tail, are white; of the fecond only the exterior web; the reft of thofe feathers dusky; the others are dufky edged with red; thofe in the middle deeply fo, the reft very flightly: the legs dufky: foles of the feet yellow: the hind claw very long and ftrait. This and the wood-lark are the only birds that fing as they fly; this raifing its note as it fears, and lowering it till it quite dies away as it defcends. It will often foar to fuch a height, that we are charmed with the mufic when we lofe fight of the fongfter; it also begins its fong before the ear lieft dawn. Milton, in his Allegro, moft beautifully expreffes these circumftances: and Bishop Newton obferves, that the beartiful fcene that Milton exhibits of rural chearfulness, at the fame time gives us a fine picture of the regularity of his life, and the innocency of his own mind; thus he defcribes himself as in a fituation To hear the lark begin his flight, the genuine fort; they were of a dull green It continues its harmony feveral months, 2 beginning beginning early in the spring, on pairing. In the winter they affemble in vatt flocks, grow very fat, and are taken in great numbers for our tables. They build their neft on the ground, beneath fome clod; forming it of hay, dry fibres, &c. and lay four or five eggs. The place thefe birds are taken in the greateft quantity, is the neighbourhood of Dunstable: the feafon begins about the fourteenth of September, and ends the twenty-fifth of February; and during that fpace about 4000 dozen are caught, which fupply the markets of the metropolis. Thole caught in the day are taken in clapnets of fifteen yards length, and two and a half in breadth; and are enticed within their reach by means of bits of looking. glafs, fixed in a piece of wood, and placed in the middle of the nets, which are put in a quick whirling motion, by a string the larker commands; he alfo makes ufe of a decoy lark. Thefe nets are used only till the fourteenth of November, for the larks will not dare, or frolick in the air except in fine funny weather; and of courfe cannot be inveigled into the fnare. When the weather grows gloomy, the larker changes his engine, and makes ufe of a trammel-net twenty-feven or twentyeight feet long, and five broad; which is put on two poles eighteen feet long, and carried by men under each arm, who pafs over the fields and quarter the ground as a fetting dog; when they hear or feel a lark hit the net, they drop it down, and fo the birds are taken. § 15. The NIGHTINGALE. The nightingale takes its name from night, and the Saxon word galan, to fing; expreffive of the time of its melody. In fize it is equal to the reditart; but longer bodied, and more elegantly made. The colours are very plain. The head and back are of a pale tawny, dashed with olive: the tail is of a deep tawny red: the throat, breaft, and upper part of the belly, of a light gloffy ath-colour: the lower belly almoft white: the exterior webs of the quill-feathers are of a dull reddish brown; the interior of brownish afh-colour: the irides are hazel, and the eyes remarkably large and piercing: the legs and feet a deep afh-colour. This bird, the most famed of the feathered tribe, for the variety, length, and fweetness of its notes, visits England the beginning of April, and leaves us in Au gut. It is a fpecies that does not spread itself over the island. It is not found in North Wales; or in any of the English counties north of it, except Yorkshire, where they are met with in great plenty about Doncafter. They have been alfo heard, but rarely, near Shrewsbury. It is alfo remarkable, that this bird does not migrate fo far weft as Devonshire and Cornwall; counties where the feafons are so very mild, that myrtles flourish in the open air during the whole year: neither are they found in Ireland. Sibbald places them in his lift of Scotch birds; but they certainly are unknown in that part of Great Britain, probably from the fcarcity and the recent introduction of hedges there. Yet they vifit Sweden, a much more fevere climate, With us they frequent thick hedges, and low coppices; and generally keep in the middle of the bush, fo that they are very rarely feen. They form their neft of oakleaves, a few bents, and reeds. The eggs are of a deep brown. When the young firft come abroad, and are helplefs, the old birds make a plaintive and jarring noise. with a fort of fnapping as if in menace, purfuing along the hedge the paffengers. They begin their fong in the evening, and continue it the whole night. Thefe their vigils did not pafs unnoticed by the antients: the flumbers of these birds were proverbial; and not to rest as much as the nightingale, expreffed a very bad fleeper. This was the favourite bird of the British poet, who omits no opportunity of introducing it, and almoft conftantly noting its love of folitude and night. How finely does it ferve to compofe part of the folemn fcenery of his Penferofo; when he de fcribes it In her faddeft sweetest plight, Smoothing the rugged brow of night; bird; and again fpeaks of it, In another place he ftyles it the folemn The reader must excufe a few more quotations from the fame poet, on the fame fubject: the first defcribes the approach of evening, and the retiring of all animals to their repofe : Silence accompanied; for beaft and bird, They to their graffy couch, thefe to their nefts When Eve paffed the irkfome night preceding her fall, fhe, in a dream, imagines herfelf thus reproached with lofing the beauties of the night by indulging too long a repofe: Why fleep't thou, Eve? now is the pleasant time, The fame birds fing their nuptial fong, and lull them to reft. How rapturous are the following lines! how expreffive of the delicate fenfibility of our Milton's tender ideas! The earth Gave fign of gratulation, and each hill; Thefe quotations from the beft judge of melody, we thought due to the fweeteft of our feathered chorifters; and we believe no reader of taste will think them te dious. of this bird, with an elegance that bespeak an exquifite fenfibility of tafte: notwithftanding that his words have been cited by moft other writers on natural history, yet fuch is the beauty, and in general the truth of his expreffions, that they cannot be too much ftudied by lovers of natural hif tory. We muft observe notwithstanding, that a few of his thoughts are more to be admired for their vivacity than for ftritt philofophical reafoning; but thefe few are eafily diftinguishable. § 16. The RED BREAST. This bird, though fo very petulant as to be at conftant war with its own tribe, yet is remarkably fociable with mankind: in the winter it frequently makes one of the family; and takes refuge from the ince mency of the season even by our fire-fides. Thomfon has prettily described the annual vifits of his gueft." The RED BREAST, facred to the houshold gods, The great beauty of that celebrated poet confifts in his elegant and juft defcriptions of the economy of animals; and the happy ufe he hath made of natural knowledge, defcriptive poetry, fhines through alme every page of his Seafons. The affection this bird has for mankind, is alfo recorded in that antient ballad, The babes in the wood; a compofition of a moft beautif and pathetic fimplicity. It is the first tri of our humanity: the child that refrains from tears on hearing that read, gives b.t a bad prefage of the tendernefs of his foture fenfations. In the fpring this bird retires to breed in the thickest covers, or the moft concealed holes of walls and other buildings. The eggs are of a dull white, fprinkled w and foft; and the more to be valued, as w reddish fpots. Its fong is remarkably is: enjoy it the greateft part of the winter, early in the fpring, and even through gr part of the fummer, but its notes are port • In his Seasons, vide Winter, line 246. of |
