UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BIOLOGY LIBRARY G FROM THE LIBRARY OF DR. JOSEPH LECONTE, GIFT OF MRS. LECONTE. ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS BY W. J. BRODERIP, ESQ., F.R.S., &c. &c. " He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who lov-L-th us He made and loveth all." COLERIDGE. FROM THE ENLARGED SECOND LONDON EDITION, PHILADELPHIA: LEA AND BLANCHARD. 1849. , \ BIOLOGY UBRARY G TO RICHARD OWEN, M.D., F.R.S., &c., &c., HUNTERIAN PROFESSOR IN THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND. MY DEAR OWEN : IN dedicating to you this little book, which would never have appeared in its present form without your suggestion and encouragement, I have only to hope that it will not be deemed entirely unworthy of association with your name. I am, My dear Owen, Your sincere friend, W. J. BRODERIP. London, May, 1847. L^. ' 186694 PREFACE. THE Papers here collected were commenced by the particular desire of one whose name cannot be written without a renewal of the regret, felt so deeply, by so many, for his untimely loss. The brilliancy of Theodore Hook's wit, vivid but innocuous as summer lightning, was only equalled by the goodness of his heart, and when he sank, " Like a bright exhalation in the evening," he left a dark void, which those -who had the happiness of enjoying his charming society, can never hope to see brightened again. For his sparkling conversation flowed continually, and without effort, like an exuberant Artesian well. There was no straining for effect : all was easy springing from the gaiety of a soul warmed by the presence of those whom he loved. These pages appeared in the New Monthly Magazine under his editorship. When the inimitable Thomas Hood another irreparable loss succeeded the lamented Theodore, the " Recrea- tions" were continued at his request ; and they were concluded, when that periodical passed into the able hands of William Harrison Ainsworth. The "Recreations" have had the good fortune to receive some marks of public approbation ; but the author, who sketched vi PREFACE. them as a relief from more severe studies and duties, would never have thought of reprinting them, had not the great Comparative Anatomist named in the dedication, and other scientific friends, urged their re-publication, under the impression that when brought together, they might form a hand-book which might cherish, or even awaken a love for Natural History. CONTENTS. PART I. PAGE Singing Birds . . -. "k . . 13 Resident Singing Birds . v ."*> ... 23 Migratory Singing Birds . . . . . 38 The Cuckoo . . ,. . : * . . 77 Owls . . . . . . . .90 Parrots . . . . . . . .116 Turkeys . . . . . ^ ,* . . 126 Wild Swans .. .'. . . '^.' . ^O . 143 Tame Swans , . ", * , '. .< . 156 A Word to Anglers . "* * - ." ''^ 171 May . . ;- : - ' '" 176 PART II. Dogs _,^ . . . . . % ,r^ 177 Cats -*T^ . . . .:'. 192 Apes and Monkeys . . . . . . 212 American Monkeys . . . . : ' . ' . . 226 Apes and Monkeys of the Old Continent . . , . . 235 Elephants . ^ . . , i^; . ;; % -. . 250 Dragons - i . . . . . . . 320 Sea-Dragons ; * . . *<>' .- 332 Ancient Amphibious and Terrestrial Dragons vif. ; < -v r :v- 344 Postscript . '., ^:- . ". *'>- # 9 - > 373 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. PART FIRST. BIRDS. SINGING BIRDS. " Anna-Marie, love, up is the sun, Anna-Marie, love, morn is begun, Mists are dispersing, love, birds singing free, Up in the morning, love, Anna-Marie." IYANHOE. THE melody of birds finds its way to the heart of every one ; but the cause that prompts the outpourings that make copse, rock, and river, ring again on a fine spring morning is more a matter of doubt with ornithologists than the uninitiated in zoological mysteries might suppose. Much has been written on this subject, but upon a consideration of the different opinions, aided by our own observations, we are inclined to think that love and rivalry are the two great stimulants, though we do not mean to deny that a bird may sing from mere gaiety of heart arising from finding itself in the haunts dear to it, and in the midst of plenty of the food it likes ; to give vent, in short, to the buoyancy of spirit arising from general pleasurable sensations. In this country the season of reproduction is undoubtedly that wherein " The isle is full of pleasant noises, Sounds?, and sweet airs that give delight." And about ten weeks have been mentioned as the period during which most of our wild birds are in song. That there are excep- tions to this rule there is no doubt. We have heard a wild thrush, one of the sweetest singers of his tribe, sing far into September, but we watched narrowly, and never could find that he had a mate. Then, again, we have the autumnal and even the winter notes of the robin long after the breeding season ; and 14 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. caged birds, if well fed and kept, will sing the greatest part of the year. Let us endeavour, before we proceed further, to give the reader some idea of the natural musical instrument with which the loud and complicated passages of song-birds are executed. The. larynx is formed much after the fashion of some artificial wind-instru- ments, and consists of two parts ; of these the first contains the proper rima glottidis, at the upper end, while the bronchial, or lower larynx, is furnished with another rima glottidis with tense membranes. The lower apparatus may be compared to the reed in a clarionet or hautboy, and the upper to the ventage or hole of the instrument that utters the note. Besides all this, it has been truly asserted that there is no part of a bird's structur^ impervious to air; and, as M. Jacquemin observes, it is the volume of air which birds can introduce into their bodies, and the force with which they can expel it, that solve the problem how so small a creature as a singing bird can be capable of sending forth notes so loud, and of warbling so long and so prodigally, without apparent fatigue. The muscles, whose province it is to regulate this wonderful wind-instrument, are proportionally strong and highly developed in the sex which is more peculiarly gifted with musical power. Thus John Hunter, on dissecting a cock- nightingale, a cock and hen blackbird, a cock linnet, and a cock and hen chaffinch, found the muscles of the larynx to be stronger in the nightingale than in any other bird of the same size ; and in all the instances where he dissected both cock and hen, he remarked that the same muscles were stronger in the cock. The rivalry with which some of these feathered songsters will sing against each other in captivity is well-known to bird-fanciers : and Bechstein observes, speaking of the Thuringian Canary birds, that there are some males which, especially in the pairing season, sing with so much strength and ardour, that they burst the delicate vessels of the lungs and die suddenly. The Hon. Daines Barrington, who paid much attention to this subject, remarks that some passages of the song in a few kinds of birds correspond with the intervals of our musical scale ; but that much the greater part of such a song is not capable of musical notations. He attributes this to the following causes : First, because the rapidity is often so great, and it is also so uncertain where they may stop, that it is impossible to reduce the passages to form a musical bar in any time whatsoever ; secondly, on account of the pitch of most birds being considerably higher than the most shrill notes of instruments of the greatest compass ; &nd lastly, because the intervals used by birds are commonly so minute that we cannot judge at all of them from the more gross intervals into which our musical octave is divided. SINGING BIRDS. 15 But though, as the same author observes, we cannot attain the more delicate and imperceptible intervals in the song of birds, yet many of them are capable of whistling tunes with our more gross intervals, as in the case of piping bullfinches and canary birds. This faculty of learning the first notes that the bird is able to distinguish, leads us to another interesting part of our subject ; and we will now proceed to the experiments made by Daines Barrington, showing that the varied songs which distinguish different species of birds, are the consequence of the parental notes which first meet their ears. The learned author states, that to be certain that a nestling will not have even the call of its species, it should be taken from the est when only a day or two old ; because, though nestlings cannot see till the seventh day, yet they can hear from the instant they are hatched, and, probably from that circumstance, attend to sounds more than they do afterwards, especially as the call of the parents announces the arrival of their food. After stating the trouble of breeding up a bird of this tender age, and admitting that he himself never reared one, he goes on to speak of a linnet and a goldfinch which he had seen, and which were taken from their nests when only two or three days old, and to mention some other curious instances of imitation in the following terms: "The first of these (the linnet) belonged to Mr. Matthews, an apothecary at Kensington, which, from a want of other sounds to imitate, almost articulated the words pretty boy, as well as some other short sentences. I heard the bird myself repeat the words pretty boy : and Mr. Matthews assured me, that he had neither the note nor call of any bird whatsoever. This talking linnet died last year, before which many people went from London to hear him speak." " The goldfinch I have before mentioned, was reared in the town of Knighton, in Radnorshire, which I happened to hear as I was walking by the house where it was kept. I thought, indeed, that a wren was singing ; and I went into the house to inquire after it, as that little bird seldom lives long in a cage. The people of the house, however, told me that they had no bird but a goldfinch, which they conceived to sing its own natural note as they called it ; upon which I stayed a considerable time in the room, whilst its notes were merely those of a wren, without the least mixture of goldfinch. On further inquiries, I found that the bird had been taken from the nest when only a day or two old, that it was hung in a window which was opposite to a small garden, whence the nestling had undoubtedly acquired the notes of the wren, without having had any opportunity of learning even the call of a gold- finch. These facts which 1 have stated seem to prove very deci- 16 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. sively that birds have not any innate ideas of the notes which are supposed to be peculiar to each species. But it will possibly be asked, why, in a wild state, they adhere so steadily to the same song, insomuch, that it is well known, before the bird is heard, what notes you are to expect from him? This, however, arises entirely from the nestling's attending only to the instruction of the parent bird, whilst it disregards the notes of all others, which may, perhaps, be singing around him. Young Canary birds are frequently reared in a room where there are many other sorts, and yet I have been informed that they only learn the song of the parent cock. Every one knows that the common house-sparrow, when in a wild state, never does any thing but chirp ; this does not, however, arise from want of power in this bird to imitate others, but because he only attends to the parental note." Two points in this interesting description will be noted by the observer, and the questions will occur how was the first bird of each species taught, and is not the assertion touching the sparrow somewhat bold ? The difficulty surrounding the first is more apparent than real ; for, if it be granted that species were created, all the distinctions of voice and plumage follow of course ; and it will equally follow that they have been regularly transmitted down to the present period in such species as have not become extinct. With regard to the second we shall permit Mr. Barrington to speak for himself, for he has proved the fact : "To prove this decisively, I took a common sparrow from the nest, when it was fledged, and educated him under a linnet : the bird, however, by accident, heard a goldfinch also, and his song was, therefore, a mixture of the linnet and goldfinch." The same experimentalist educated a young robin, under a very fine nightingale, which, however, began already to be out of song, and was perfectly mute in less than a fortnight : the scholar afterwards sang three parts in four nightingale, and the rest of his song was what the bird-catchers call "rubbish," or no particular note whatever. Bechstein observes that nearly all birds when young will learn some strain whistled or played to them every day ; but those only whose memory is retentive will abandon their natural song and adopt fluently the air that has been taught them. In proof of this position, he adduces the cases of the goldfinch and bullfinch, stating that a young goldfinch will, indeed, learn some part of the melody played to a bullfinch, but will never repeat the lesson so perfectly as the latter, and that this difference is not caused by the greater or less flexibility of the organ of the voice, but rather by the superiority of the bullfinch's memory. In the cultivation and management of the human voice, and to SIJS'GING BIRDS. 17 keep up its tone, and the power ef execution, we know how necessary constant practice is ; and we find the same sort of discipline resorted to both by caged birds, and those which pour forth their " wood notes wild." "It is remarkable," says Bechstein, "that birds which do not sing all the year, such as the redbreast, siskin, and goldfinch, seem obliged, after moulting, to learn to warble, as though they had forgotten ; but I have seen enough to convince me that these attempts are merely to render the larynx pliant, and are a kind of chirping, the notes of which have but little relation to the proper song ; for a slight attention will discover that the larynx becomes gradually capable of giving the common warble. This method of recovering the song does not, then, show deficiency of memory, but liability to rigidity, occasioned by disuse of the larynx. The chaffinch will exercise itself in this way some weeks before it attains its former proficiency, and the nightingale practises as long the strains of his beautiful song, before he gives it full, clear, and in all its extent." This "practising" is termed by our British bird-fanciers and bird-catchers, " recording," a word, according to Daines Barring- ton, probably derived from the musical instrument formerly used in England, called a " recorder,"* which seems to have been a species of flute, and was probably used to teach young birds to pipe notes. The term " recording" is more particularly used by the same fraternity, to distinguish the attempt of the nestling to sing, and which may be compared to the babble of a child in its imperfect endeavours to articulate. "I have known," says Barrington, "instances of birds be- ginning to record when they were not a month old. This first 'essay does not seem to have the least rudiments of the future song; but as the bird grows older and stronger, one may begin to perceive what the nestling is aiming at. Whilst the scholar is thus endeavouring to form his song, when he is once sure of a passage he commonly raises his tone, which he drops again when he is not equal to what he is attempting ; just as a singer raises his voice, when he not only recollects certain parts of a tune with, precision, but knows that he can execute them. What the nest- ling is not thus thoroughly master of, he hurries over, lowering his tone, as if he did not wish to be heard, and could not yet satisfy himself. A young bird commonly continues to record for ten or eleven months, when he is able to execute every part of his song, which afterwards continues fixed, and is scarcely ever al- tered. When the bird is thus become perfect in his lesson, he is * The passage in " Hamlet" will occur to every one. 2* 18 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. said to sing his song round, or in all its varieties of passages, which he connects together, and executes without a pause." Barrington defines a bird's song to be a succession of three or more different notes, which are continued without interruption during the same interval with a musical bar of four crotchets in an adagio movement, or whilst a pendulum swings four seconds. Now- let us see what notes have been detected in the song. Observers have marked F natural in woodlarks ; A in thrushes ; c falling to A commonly in the cuckoo ; A natural in common cocks ; B flat in a very large cock ; D in some owls ; B flat in others. Thus we have A, B flat, c, D, and F, to which Barrington adds G from his own observations on a nightingale, which lived three years in a cage ; and he confirms the remarks of the observer who furnished him with the list, and says he has frequently heard from the same bird c and F. To prove the precision of the pitch of these notes, the B flat of the spirinet by which he tried them was perfectly in tune with the great bell of St. Paul's. E, then, is the only note wanting to complete the scale ; but, as he says, the six other notes afford sufficient data for making some conjectures with regard to the key in which birds may be supposed to sing, as these intervals can only be found in the key of F with a sharp third, or that of o with a flat third ; and he supposed it to be the plaintive flat third, that affecting tone which, in the simple ballad, or " wild and sad" chorus, so comes home to our bosoms. " Oft have I listened, and stood still As it came softened up the hill And deemed it the lament of men, Who languished for their native glen." Barrington pronounces in favour of the flat third, because he agrees with Lucretius, that man first learnt musical notes from birds, and because the cuckoo, whose " plain song" has been most attended to, performs it in a flat third. He strengthens his argument by showing that most of our simple compositions old melodies such as " MorvaRhydland," and ancient music generally are almost always in a flat third. The music of the Turks and Chinese, he also adduces as having half of the airs in a minor third, which is " adapted to simple movements such as may be expected in countries where music hath not been long culti- vated." It will appear, however, from the following observations collected by White, in his enchanting History of Selborne, that neither cuckoos nor owls keep to one key. One musical friend informs the natural historian that all the owls that are his near neighbours hoot in sflat. But in the next letter to the author whom we have so largely quoted, dated August 1, 1771, before the publication of SINGING BIRDS. 19 that zoologist's memoir on the singing of birds, in the Philosophi- cal Transactions, bearing date 1773, White says that a friend re- marks that many (most) of his owls hoot in B flat ; and that one went almost half a note below A. He adds, that a neighbour with a nice ear remarked that the owls about Selborne hooted in three X different keys, namely, in G flat, or F sharp in B flat, and A flat. " He heard two hooting to each other, the one in A flat, and the other in B flat." The same person found that the note of the cuckoo varied in different individuals ; for, about Selborne wood, he observed, they were mostly in D ; he heard two sing together, the one in D, the other in D sharp, "who made a disagreeable concert ;" [one would think as much.] He afterwards heard one in D sharp, and, about Woolmer forest, some in c. It may seem a rather Milesian method of treating the subject of singing birds, to dwell so long upon the notes of cocks, owls, and cuckoos ; but we shall find that the distinctness and simpli- city of intonation in these birds afford a much better chance of accurately determining the key than the rapid gush of song of the true warblers ; and it will be necessary, before we enter upon the melodies of that exhilarating tribe, to draw the reader's atten- tion to what may be called the conversational notes of birds. Those which congregate in bushes keep up a constant twitter- ing, as if to apprize each other of their presence ; and all have notes expressive of alarm, or satisfaction, to say nothing of the language of incubation. These powers may be particularly remarked in the common poultry. The peculiar shrill cry with which the bird of dawning, with uplifted eye, and head raised on one side, to give the widest upward sweep to his vision, gives warning of the horrible advent of the kite or sparrow-hawk ; the note with which he gallantly calls his seraglio about him, to feast on the barleycorn which he has found and saved for them ; the exulting cackle of Dame Partlet giving notice that one more milk- white egg is added to the careful henwife's treasure, a cackle that is caught up from farm-yard to farm-yard, till the whole village is in an uproar, must be familiar to every one : even the newly- hatched chicken it is White, we believe, who makes the obser- vation will seize a fly, if offered to it, \vith complacent twitter- ings : but if a wasp be tendered, a note of aversion and distress is the consequence. The wild fowl, in their lofty aerial flights, keep up a constant watch-note of communication with each other ; and far and wide in the silence of night does their cry resound. The windpipes of many of these are complete wind instruments ; that of the wild swan takes a turn within the sternum somewhat after the fashion of a French horn or bugle. May not these unearthly sound?, heard from on high, 20 , ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. " At the lone midnight hour, when bad spirits have power," have assisted the legends of the ghostly huntsman, and his wild chase in the air, sweeping overhead like the rush of withered leaves ? The call, as it is technically termed, of singing birds seem to have an almost miraculous power over the race, as the bird- catcher well knows. " When the bird-catcher hath laid his nests, he disposes of his call-birds at proper intervals. It must be owned that there is a most malicious joy in these call-birds to bring the wild ones into the same captivity, which may likewise be observed with regard to the decoy ducks. Their sight and hearing infinitely excel those of the bird-catcher. The instant that the wild birds are perceived, notice is given by one to the rest of the call-birds (as it is by the first hound that hits on the scent, to the rest of the pack), after which follows the same sort of tumultuous ecstasy and joy. The call-birds, while the bird is at a distance, do not sing as a bird does in a chamber ; they invite the wild ones by what the bird- catchers call short jerks, which, when the birds are good, may be heard at a great distance. The ascendency by this call, or invita- tion, is so great, that the wild bird is stopped in its course of flight, and, if not already acquainted with the nets, lights boldly within twenty yards of perhaps three or four bird-catchers, on a spot which otherwise it would not have taken the least notice of. Nay, it frequently happens that, if half a flock only are caught, the remaining half will immediately afterwards light in the nets, and share the same fate ; and should only one bird escape, that bird will suffer itself to be pulled at till it is caught such a fascinating power have the call-birds"* We do not mean to detain the reader upon a bird-catching expedition though it would be more full of interest than some would think but he ought to know, before he goes on one, that a bird acquainted with the nets is by the bird-catchers termed a sharper ; him they endeavour to drive away, as they can have no sport in his company. It is worthy of note, too, that even in their captivity the natural instinct of the call-birds is in many points no whit blunted ; for the moment they see a hawk, caged though they be, they communicate the alarm to each other, by a plaintive note, nor will they iheujerk or call, though the wild birds are near.t It is in the Insessorial order $ of birds that the songsters abound, but there is one remarkable exception among the Raptorial order, in that warbling African, Le Faucon Chantcur of Le Vaillant, * Barrington on the small birds of flight. f Ibid. t Insessores Perching birds. Falco musicus of Daudin. SINGING BIRDS. 21 perhaps the only known bird of prey Cuvier says the only known one that sings agreeably. Its song is very sweet, but dangerous as the lay of the Syrens, and " Mocks the dead bones that lay scattered by." Few spots are more musical with song-birds than these islands. Not that the woods of America are mute but they want the brilliant variety of ours ; and one of her sons, who has so well de- served of the lovers of natural history in all countries, has endea- voured to colonize the Transatlantic groves with the feathered songsters of Britain. And yet they have that wonderful polyglot the rnock-bird.* Him we have seen and heard in captivity, and but Wilson has immortalized the bird with his graphic pen, and, in all humility, we lay down ours. "The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his movements, the ani- mation of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listening and laying up lessons from almost every species of the feathered creation within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his genius. To these qualities we may add that of a voice full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every modulation, from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush, to the savage screams of the bald eagle. In measure and accent, he faithfully follows his originals. In force and sweetness of expres- sion, he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush or half-grown tree, in the dawn of a dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent over every competitor. Tha ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which are easily distinguishable by such as are well acquainted with those of our various song birds, are bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, three, or at the most five or six syllables; generally interspersed with limitations, and all of them uttered with great emphasis and rapidity; and continued, with undiminished ardour, for half an hour or an hour at a time ; his expanded wings and tail, glisten- ing with white, and the buoyant gaiety of his action, arresting the eye, as his song most irresistibly does the ear. He sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy he mounts and descends as his song swells or dies away; and, as my friend Mr. Bartram has beauti fully expressed it, "He bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, as if to recover or recall his very soul, expired in the last elevated strain." While thus exerting himself, a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose that the whole feathered tribes had assembled * Orpheus polyglottus. 22 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. together on a trial of skill, each striving to produce the utmost effect, so perfect are his imitations. He many times deceives the sportsman, and sends him in search of birds that perhaps are not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly imitates ; even birds themselves are frequently imposed on by this admirable mimic, and are decoyed by the fancied calls of their mates, or dive with precipitation into the depths of thickets, at the scream of what they suppose to be the sparrow-hawk. The mocking-bird loses little of the power and energy of his song by confinement. In his domesticated state, when he commences his career of song, it is impossible to stand by uninterested. He whistles for the dog ; Cassar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his master. He squeaks out like a hurt chicken, and the hen hurries about with hanging wings, and bristled feathers, clucking to protect its injured brood. The barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking of a passing wheelbarrow, follow, with great truth and rapidity. He repeats the tune taught him by his master, though of considerable length, fully and faithfully. He runs over the quiverings of the canary, and the clear whistlings of the Virginia nightingale or red-bird, with such superior execution and effect, that the mortified songsters feel their own inferiority, and become altogether silent, while he seems to triumph in their defeat by redoubling his exertions. ********* Both in his native and domesticated state, during the solemn still- ness of night, as soon as the moon rises in silent majesty, he begins his delightful solo, and serenades us the livelong night with a full display of his vocal powers, making the whole neighbourhood ring with his inimitable medley." But we must return to the singing birds of Britain, which may be divided into two classes, the regular visiters and the residents. Food is the principal motive that induces migration on the part of the former, which, like Grisi, Tamburini, Rubini, and, though last not least, Lablache, leave the more genial climes of the south to shiver in the spring of our more austere shores, delighting our ears, and revelling in the harvest made ready for them. But we are not entirely dependent on these warbling strangers, for we number among our residents many birds that in sweetness of tone, if not in brilliancy of execution, rival their visiters. What with the influenza and the cutting easterly winds, it has been, Heaven knows, a bitter black season for us unfeathered bipeds, but it has been worse than bitter for the birds. What a month was the " Month before the month of May!' 7 well did it justify the corresponding line, telling us that " The spring comes slowly up this way." RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 23 The berries were almost all gone, the insects, wisely, came not forth, and, in short, the supplies were all but stopped. Verily there hath not been much disposition " To forestal sweet Saint Valentine" this year. But now, while we are writing, the redstart, which seldom, it is true, appears among us before the middle of April, and is often not seen till the end of that month, is running on the grass plat, picking up its insect-food, and vibrating its tail at the close of every run, its white cap and black gorget contrasting strongly in the sunshine. It is a blessed change. The swallows are come, and they do make a spring, if not a summer. When we proceed to enumerate the different species of singing birds, we shall inquire as to the time of year when each may be considered, generally speaking, to be in full song. At present we shall merely observe, that it depends in great measure both upon the health and spirits of the individual, and the state of the weather. Not that any of them, hardly, are to be heard in any thing like full song in January, except very rarely. February, March, and April, are more and more tunable, Often, in the latter month, the chill gloomy morning, rendered more dreary by a cutting easterly wind, clears away into a fine warm afternoon. In such mornings, while Eurus predominates, every thing around is silent with the exception of the murmur of the brook ; but the wind changes, the clouds disperse, forth breaks the sun, the insects swarm, the tuneful stream becomes alive with the rising trouts, and the groves burst out into melody. In May, " the mother of love," the year is more confirmed, and every garden, orchard, and copse rivals the singing tree of the Arabian story. Now it is that the full power of song is developed ; witness the clear mellow pipe of that blackbird perched on the tallest acacia in the garden, while his mate, with half-shut eyes, and pressing her little ones to her bosorn, listens in security on her nest in yonder hawthorn hedge spangled with its dewy May- flower blossoms. May, 1837. SINGING BIRDSRESIDENTS. " Within the bush, her covert nest A little linnet fondly prest, The dew sat chilly on her breast, Sae early in the morning." BTJIINS. No : every green thing has not been sacrificed to the Frost- Genius. Nights, rivalling the Iron Nights of the Swedish 24 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. calendar, have, indeed, done their work ; and it may be doubted whether the horticulturist has had so much cause for lamentation since the "Black Spring" of 1771. Numbers are mourning their dead rhododendrons, azalias, and magnolias, and not a few have to sigh over their withered bays, to say notning of laurustinuses and roses : even the hardy holly has, in some places, perished in its death-struggle with the weather. The determined lingering of winter in the lap of spring seems to have checked every effort of vegetable life, producing one of the most backward seasons remembered. This has had its effect upon the Singing Birds ; for, as the food of their nestlings consists almost entirely of caterpillars and of insects generally in the early stages of development, or of worms and slugs, all of which depend upon plants for subsistence, their song, and incu- bation there have been exceptions, doubtless are late this year. We saw one instance of the ravenous eagerness with which the half-starved creatures attacked and made prey of some of the first flowers that dared to show themselves. On a fine sunny morning after the first of the one or two comparatively warm nights that came in March, the garden, which on the preceding day had "made no sign," was bright with crocuses every one of which the birds devoured or destroyed before noon. Of all the British resident Song-birds, the Merulidse are the most remarkable for the strength of their vocal powers, and the first of this family that claims our attention, for it is a brumal as well as an early, vernal songster, is a very curious bird, not uncommon in some localities, but extremely rare in others, and concerning which much of the marvellous has been written. If we are to believe some authors, the Water-Ouzel, Water Black- bird, or Dipper,* Der Wasserschwatzer of the Germans, Merle d'eau of the French, and Tordo del agua of the Spaniards, delibe- rately descends into the water, and walks about on the bottom of the stream with the same ease and complacency as if it were stepping on the dry land. Now, to say nothing of that ex- tremely impracticable law of which We are reminded every hour of the day, and more especially," when china falls," the structure of the bird itself is not adapted for such a feat ; and though we have no doubt of its subaqueous habits, which have food more than frolic for their object, we are more than skeptical as to its pedestrian performances in such a situation. Mr. Macgillivray, who writes as none can write who have not beheld what they write about, informs us that he has seen the Dipper moving under water in situations where he could observe it with certainty, and he found that its actions Were precisely similar to those of the Divers, * Cinclus aquaticus Turdus Cinclus of Linnaeus. RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 25 Mergansers, and Cormorants, which he had often watched from an eminence as they pursued the shoals of sand-eels along the shores of the Hebrides. It, in fact, flew ; not merely employing the wing from the carpal joint, but extending it considerably, and availing itself of the whole expanse, just as it would have done if it had been moving in the air. The general direction of the body was obliquely downwards ; and great force was evidently used to counteract buoyancy, the bird finding it difficult to keep itself at the bottom. Mr. Macgillivray remarks that Colonel Montagu well describes the appearance which it presents under such circumstances ; and the former goes on to state that, in one or two instances where he has been able to perceive it under water, it appeared to tumble about in a very extraordinary manner, with its head downwards, as if pecking something, and at the same time great exertion of both wings and legs was used. The bird was, we doubt not, at this time capturing the fresh-water mollusca and insect-larvae which form its principal aliment. When searching for food, the Dipper, according to Mr. Macgillivray, does not proceed to great distances under water ; but, alighting on some spot, sinks, and soon reappears in the immediate neigh- bourhood, when it either dives again, or rises on the wing to drop somewhere else on the water, or to settle on an insulated stone in the midst of the brook. The same ornithologist broadly, and, as we believe, truly, states that the assertion of its walking below the surface, which some persons have ventured, is neither made good by observation nor countenanced by reason. Its short legs, and long, curved claws, are, as he says, very ill adapted for running, but admirably calculated for securing a steady footing on slippery stones, whether above or beneath the surface of the water. The sonorous song of this extraordinary bird startles the ear as it comes mingled with the hoarse tones of the torrent, or the rushing of the wintry waterfall, sometimes in the midst of a snow-storm. Mr. Rennie, who remarks that it is one of the few birds that are vocal so early in the year as the months of January and February, heard it, on the llth of the latter month in a hard frost, when the thermometer in the morning had been at 26, sing incessantly in a powerful and elegant style, with much variation in the notes, many of which were peculiar to itself, intermingled with a little of the piping of the Woodlark. The day was bright whilst it was singing, but it was freezing in the shade ; and the sun, which had considerably passed the meridian, was obscured from the songster by the lofty surrounding hills. The same author declares that the Dipper consumes a consider- able quantity of fishes' spawn, and, especially, of the ova of the salmon. Bechstein, who also notices its winter music, alleges that it sings, moreover, in the night. 3 26 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. The nest is as curious as the bird that makes it. In shape it a good deal resembles that of a Wren, having a dome or roof, but it is not so deep. Externally it is formed of water-plants, or closely-interwoven moss : within, there is a lining of dry leaves. The access to the hollow chamber is through an aperture in the side. It is often placed in some mossy bank overhanging the stream, u Where the lady-fern grows longest ;" and has been detected under a projecting stone forming part of a cascade, and behind a sheet of falling water. Through this liquid glassy curtain the bird darted to its home. The eggs, from four to six in number, are white, and pointed at the end ; and, wherever the nest is placed, such care is taken by the old birds to assimilate its hues to those of the locality, that, large as it is, the most acute eye is often unable to detect it. There is an excellent vignette of the Dipper's nest in Mr. YarreiFs delightful "History of British Birds."* This Water Blackbird is not uncommon in Scotland, nor in the North and West of England. In Wales and Ireland it frequently occurs. Mr. Yarrell mentions one which was seen at a water- mill, near Wyrardisbury, on the Colne, about two or three hundred yards above the place at which that river falls into the Thames, just below Bell Weir, well known to the angler who goes after the great trouts. The bird, he adds, has also been seen on the Mole, near Esher, and in Essex ; but it is seldom found in the counties near London. Next in order comes the Missel Thrush,t la Draine of the French, and Misteldrossel of the Germans. Perched on the top of the yet leafless tree, he pours forth his loud and often- repeated strain of melancholy, but musical cadences, " While rocking winds are piping loud," amid all the meteoric rudeness of February. The advent of the storm is Hailed by him in notes of more than ordinary power; and so remarkable is this habit, that it has obtained for the bird, in many counties, the name of Storm Cock. Self-possessed and daring, this, one of the largest of the British Thrushes, will suffer hardly any animal to approach its haunts during the season of incubation ; hence the Welch call him Pen y llwyn, the head or master of the coppice ; for he will not tolerate the presence of any thievish Magpie, .Jay, or Crow, but drives them from the spot with loud cries. So pugnacious are both the sexes at this period, that the hen bird has been known to fly at the face of * 8vo. London, Van Vorst. f Turdus viscivorus. RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 27 man when he has disturbed her while sitting-. White acknow- ledges the success with which the Missel Thrush frequently repels the invader ; but he once saw in his garden at Selborne a sad exception to the general rule. Several Magpies came down in a body, determined to storm the nest of the poor Missel Thrushes, who " defended their mansion with great vigour, and fought resolutely pro aris etfocis; but numbers at last prevailed; they tore the nest to pieces, and swallowed the young alive." The -food of the Missel Thrush consists of slugs, worms, insects, &c., with no small addition of berries, among which that of the misseltoe (whence its name) is a decided favourite. The nest, which is begun in April, is generally placed in the fork of a tree, sometimes carefully concealed, but, at others, remarkably exposed : it presents externally a mass of coarse stems of plants, moss, withered grasses, and lichens. Within, it is stuccoed with mud or clay, which is again lined with delicate dry grasses, on which are laid four or five eggs more than an inch long, generally of a greenish white spotted with ruddy brown, but the colour occasionally varies to pinkish or reddish white, mottled with dark red-brown hues. The bird, though plentiful nowhere, is not uncommon anywhere in Britain, and is to be found in most of the counties near the metropolis : we have seen and heard it fre- quently at Fulham. Brisson named the Song Thrush,* Throstle, or Mavis, the Small Missel Thrush, and, indeed, it is very nearly a miniature resemblance of the last-mentioned species. But this admirable musician, to which the English and Germans have given a name expressive of its melodious pipe, goes far beyond the Missel Thrush, or, indeed, any of the tribe in Britain, in its vocal powers. From early spring, throughout the summer months, even until the autumn, this charming songster delights the rural inhabitants of this island, more especially in the morning and towards the close of day. It generally chooses the top of a high tree for its station, and we have sometimes thought its music most perfect after a genial shower on a fine warm spring evening, when the young foliage was glittering with the rain-drops, and not a breath of air disturbed the direct upward column of gray smoke rising from the neighbouring cottage. Like all powerful song-birds, this thrush often seems to arti- culate words distinctly. We have heard one express, in the course of its singing, sounds which fell on the ear as if it were repeating the words "My dear- my pretty dear my pretty little dear." These accents were not caught up by one listener alone, who might, perhaps, have been deemed a little imaginative ; but all who heard them were struck by the resemblance. * Turdus musicus, Linn. The Germans call it Singdrossel. 28 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. This charming species is widely spread, and has been traced eastward as far as Smyrna and Trebizond. It was evidently one of the birds that ministered to the absurd wantonness of the Roman voluptuaries in their olios of brains and tongues of singing birds. Even at the present day, as we learn from a distinguished ornithologist of that country,* it is considered among the Italians as " molto grato agli Epicurei." The luscious grapes and figs on which it there feeds are said to impart a most exquisite flavour to its flesh, which seems well appreciated by the ex-maitred' hotel of Pascal Bruno's friend, the Prince Butera, when the accomplished artist treats, with all the solemnity due to the high importance of the subject, of his Grives a la broche, au genievre,a.nd a laflamande.\ There is, it is true, no accounting for tastes, and we would speak with all reverence for discriminating palates ; but some may think that all taste, save that for the pleasures of the table, must have vanished before the gourmand can sit down with gratification to his dish of Song Thrushes. The Throstle has been seen sitting on her eggs as early as the third week in January. The first brood, however, rarely makes its appearance before the beginning of April. The nest is generally hidden in the midst of some tall bush ; green moss and delicate roots form the outside; and within it is coated with a thin smooth plastering, in which decayed wood is often an ingre- dient, so well laid on as to hold water for some time. In this cup-like receptacle the female deposits four or five eggs of a beautiful pale blue, scantily spotted with black at the larger end. It appears, from a contributor to Mr. Louden's "Magazine of Natural History" where will be found many pleasant anecdotes of animals and much interesting zoological information, that both sexes participate in the duties of incubation. The author of the memoir alluded to, who watched the progress of the nest, states that, when all was finished, the cock took his share of the hatching, but he did not sit so long as the hen, though he often fed her while she was upon the nest. The young were out of the shells, which the old ones carried orT, by the thirteenth day. The " Ousel Cock" maybe thought too common to require notice ; and yet some of our readers may not be aware that, glorying in its prodigality of voice and revelling in its mimicry, it has been known to crow like a cock and cackle like a hen. The power and quality of tone of the blackbirdj is first-rate, and for these he is justly more celebrated than for execution or variety of notes. His clear, mellow, fluty pipe is first heard in the early spring, and his song is continued far into the year,, till the time of * The Prince of Canino and Musignano. j- In " Le Cuisinier des Cuisiniers." t Merula vulgaris Turdus Merula, Linn RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 29 moulting. He rejoices in the moist vernal weather, and is heard to the greatest advantage when "The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard, By those who wander through the forest walks." The thickest bush is generally selected for the nest, which is matted externally with coarse roots, and strong, dry grass stalks or bents, plastered and mixed internally with earth, so as to form a kind of cob-wall. Fine grass stalks form the lining on which repose the four, five, or even six light-blue eggs, most frequently mottled with pale rufous brown, but sometimes spotless. The first hatch takes place about the end of March or beginning of April. This species, the Schwarzdrossel of the Germans, Merlo of the Italians, and Merle of the French and Scotch, is widely and abundantly diffused. It has been recorded by Temminck as far eastward as the Morea, and Mr. Darwin noticed it as far west as Terceira, one of the Azores : but this is no place for a lecture on the geographical distribution of birds. Albinos are not very uncommon. The fruit consumed by the Blackbird and Song Thrush is well repaid, not only by their music, but by the good they do to the garden in destroying slugs and shell-snails. Besides their natural notes, these Merulidae may be educated so as to sing an artificial song, and even articulate. Dr. Latham relates that the tame Blackbird may be taught to whistle tunes and to imitate the human voice ; and Pliny tells us of the talking Thrush, " imitan- tem sermones hominum," which was the pet of Claudius Caesar's Agrippina. The Hon. Daines Barrington quotes another sentence from the same chapter and book of Pliny to show that the young Caesars had a Thrush, as well as Nightingales, eloquent in Latin and Greek. The talking Thrush belonging to Agrippina we admit ; but we suspect that the learned Thrush of the "Caesares juvenes" was no more than a starling ; and, indeed, "sturnum" is the word in the Leyden edition (1548). The Larks, those brilliant vocalists, next claim our notice, and with the Sky-Lark, or Lavrock* we begin. Fear not, reader ; there is no description coming of the variety of the intense gushes, the prodigal outpourings of this Ariel of song, as he mounts till the eye can no longer follow him, though the ear still drinks his wild music. We are not in a frame of mind for such attempts ; we have just read those beautiful lines that close the most soul-stirring of all biographies! lines describing, with all the touching fervour of a holy poetry, the affecting incident that made * Alauda arvensis. f Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart, by J. G. Lockhart, Esq., his literary executor. 3* 30 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. its way to the hearts of the mourners when they laid in the earth the daughter of the great and good Sir Walter " The minstrel's darling child." Who, after reading that mournful and thrilling page, will not denounce the sacrilege of depriving the sky-lark of his liberty ? Of all the unhallowed instances of bird-incarceration (not even excepting the stupid cruelty of shutting up a Robin in an aviary), the condemnation of the Sky-lark to perpetual imprisonment is surely the most repugnant to every good feeling. The bird, whilst his happy brethren are carolling far up in the sky, as if they would storm heaven itself with their rush of song, just at the joyous season " When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear," is doomed to pine in some dingy street. There, in a den with a solid wooden roof, painted green outside, and white, glaring white, within which, in bitter mockery, is called a tfAry-lark's cage, he keeps winnowing his wretched wings, and beating his breast against the wires, panting for one one only upward flight into the free air. To delude him into the recollection that there are such places as the fields, which he is beginning to forget, they cut what they call a turf a turf dug up in the vicinity of this smoke- canopied Babel of bricks, redolent of all its sooty abominations, and bearing all the marks of the thousands of tons of fuel which .are now suffered to escape up our chimneys, and fall down again upon our noses and into our lungs, tons, which, when our coal- mines begin to shrink alarmingly 'tis no laughing matter, the time must come some future Arnott* will, perhaps too late, enable the public to save, while he, at the same time, bestows upon them the blessing of a pure atmosphere. Well, this abominable lump of dirt is presented to the sky-lark as a refreshment for his parched feet, longing for the fresh morning dews. Miserable as the winged creature is, he feels that there is something resembling grass under him ; and then the fond wretch looks upward and warbles, and expects his mate. Is it possible to see and hear this desecration of instinct unmoved ? and yet we endure it every spring, and moreover, we have our Society for Preventing Cruelty to Animals. When free, the Sky-lark never sings on the ground : his notes are first heard early in the year, and his song is continued far into the summer. About the end of April or the beginning of May the nest is placed snugly among the corn or herbage, and rests * We by no means intend to insinuate that the present gifted philosopher is unable to effect this ; we believe that he could ; but revolutions to be stable should be gradual, or they are apt to end in smoke. RESIDENT SINGING BIRD8. 31 upon the earth. It is framed of the stalks of plants, with an inside lining of fine dry grasses, and contains four or five greenish-white eggs, spotted with brown. The first family is generally ready for mounting into the air by the end of June ; and a second brood is usually fully fledged in August. It is most persevering in the great business of incubation ; and, if the early nests are taken, will lay on till September. Such " philoprogenitiveness" may account for the swarms that cover the face not only of this but other countries in the autumn and winter, when the fatal -net entangles hundreds at a time, and thousands fall a sacrifice to the various engines which are at work to bring them to the poulterer's stall. The duty paid on these victims at Leipsic amounted, when Dr. Latham wrote, to twelve thousand crowns per annum, at a grosch, or twopence halfpenny sterling, for every sixty larks. The first impulse is to regret the sacrifice of so sweet a singer ; but if these myriads were left unmolested, what would become of the other species what would become of the Sky-larks themselves? Still they must be seen on the board with regret ; pretty accom- paniments though they be to claret when dressed a la broche, and certainly consolatory when served la minute or en caisse. The Wood-lark,* if it cannot compete with the Sky-lark in variety of notes, must be allowed to surpass it in the rich and melodious quality of its tone. It sometimes sings on a tree, but its favourite position for. exerting its charming powers is in the air, and it may be known to the eye of those whose ear, unac- customed to distinguish the song of birds, woufd not detect the difference, by its flight in widely-extended circles ; whereas the Sky-lark keeps rising almost perpendicularly in a spiral direction, till it is lost in the clear blue above. The Wood-lark, which is a comparatively scarce bird with us, appears to be much more enduring on the wing than the Sky-lark, and will sometimes continue in the air, soaring to a great height, singing, still singing, for an hour together. It begins to breed early in the season. Colonel Montagu found the nest, which is not unlike that of the Sky-lark, with eggs in it, on the fourth of April. A few fine hairs are sometimes added to the lining, but the situation chosen for it, though on the ground, is more frequently in wild and barren lands, shielded by rank grass, a tuft of furze, or a stunted bush, than in cultivated districts. The eggs, about four in number, are brown, mottled with gray and ash-colour. Unlike the preceding species, the Wood-lark does not assemble in flocks in the winter, but would seem rather to keep together in families of from five to seven. It is a very clear songster, and, in favourable weather, will begin its melody soon after Christmas. * Alauda arborca. 32 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. The Pipits, or Tit-larks,* though in many points resembling the true larks, differ so much in others that they have been generically separated. The Meadow Pipit is the most common ; its nest is placed on the ground, and the song, which is sweet but short, is not commenced till the bird has attained a considerable elevation in the air, whence, after hovering a little, it descends warbling till it reaches the ground. In captivity, the Meadow Pipit is highly valued by bird-fanciers for its song. There is not much music among the Tit-mice,t though the Long-tailed Tit,J in the spring, warbles a pleasing but low melody near its bottle-shaped nest ; and, as the Buntings hardly deserve the name of song-birds, we pass from them to the other "finches of the grove." The song of the BullfinchH we do not mean the low whistle which is its call-note is of a modest softness and sweetness, but murmured in such an under tone as to require a close proximity to the bush whence it proceeds to make the ear aware of it. Its docility in learning to whistld tunes in captivity is well known ; and those who have once pos- sessed a musical pet of this description will know how to "share Maria's grief for the loss of her favourite. Numbers of these performers are imported annually from Germany, where there are regular schools for teaching them.^[ The thick underwood, or a low close-leaved tree, is most frequently selected for the nest, which is made of small sticks, and lined with a few root fibres : the four or five bluish-white eggs are spotted with pale orange- brown. The Greenfinch or Green Linnet,** though not gifted with many natural notes, is prized in confinement for its facility in ac- quiring those of other birds. It soon becomes familiar with its mistress, and has been known to make free with the soft delicate downy hair on the back of her snowy neck, probably prompted to this rape of the lock by the instinct which urged the poor bird to prepare materials for a nest which was never to be built. In a state of nature, the thick hedge, close bush, or impervious ivy, hides the nest of moss and wool, lined with fine hair and feathers, which is seldom complete before the end of May or beginning of June, and the four or five bluish-white eggs are speckled with light orange-brown. The common Brown Linnet'stt "lay of love," though not long, * Anthus aquaticus Rock or Shore Pipit. Anthus pratensis Meadow Pipit. f Parus Tomtits. $ Parus caudatus. Emberiza. li PyrrhuJa vulgaris. K There are some of these academies in Hesse and Fulda, and at Walters- hausen. ** Loxia Chloris, Linn. Fringilla Chloris, Temm. \\ Fringilla cannabina, **., RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 33 is very sweet; this bird, from the changes in its plumage conse- quent on the seasons, has lost its individuality with some authors, and has been described, according to the state of its dress, as the Linnet or Gray Linnet and the Greater Redpole. A bush of furze is a favourite place for the nest, which is framed of interwoven moss, grass, stalks, and wool, lined with hair and feathers ; the eggs, amounting to four or five, are bluish white, mottled with purple-red. We now come to one of the most common of our English birds, the Chaffinch,* whose song seems.as much neglected in England as it is worshipped on the continent. Not that there are no in- stances of its melody being prized with us, and indeed as much as five guineas have been given for one with an uncommon note ; but with the Thuringian, the admiration of the Chaffinch's song becomes a passion. He will travel miles if he hear of the arrival of a wild one with a good note from, a neighbouring country, and will sell his cow to possess it. He has created a set of terms to designate the eight different "songs" which his ear has detected, and, when he obtains a bird that sings the best of these in perfec- tion, hardly any price will tempt him to part with it. To pro- cure a good Chaffinch, a common workman will deprive himself almost of necessaries till he has saved the money which is to make him happy by the possession of his favourite songster. The Thuringian Fanatico carries his admiration to an excess that would be incredible if Bechstein had not given the details with a most amusing fidelity, describing at length all the songs, from the Double Trill of the Hartz, the Reiterzong, and the Wine song, to the Pithia or Trewethia. To his interesting and well-trans- lated book we refer those who are curious in tracing such pheno- mena of the human mind ; the passion for the rare varieties of the Chaffinch's song appears to be, with reference to the ear, what the Tulip mania was, and, indeed, in great measure, is, with re- gard to the eye. The nest of the Chaffinch in this country is a masterpiece of art : in the fork of some ancient apple-tree, venerable with mosses and lichens (which are carefully collected for the outside of the symmetrical fabric so as to make it assimilate with surrounding objects), this fine piece of workmanship of closely-interwoven wool and moss is fixed : feathers and hair render the inside a soft, warm, cozy bed for four or five bluish-white pink-tinged eggs, which are variegated with spots and streaks of impurpled red. The love-note of the cock Chaffinch is heard almost as soon as that of the Blackbird ; for the species is very early in preparing for the hopes of the year. * Fringilla Ccelebs. 34 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. The cUbonnaire Goldfinch* builds one of the most elegant nests that our English Finches produce: moss, lichens, wool, and dry grass, artistically intertwined, form the outside of the fabric, which is generally hidden in a quiet orchard or secluded garden, where, in the midst of some evergreen an arbutus perchance it is pro- tected from the prying eye by the compact, leafy screen of the well-grown, healthy shrub; the delicate down of willows, or dwarf early-seeding plants, the choicest lamb's wool and the finest hair, form the warm lining on which the bluish-white eggs, dotted with a few rich brown spots, are deposited. The beautiful plumage and sweetly-varied song of the Goldfinch make it a great favourite; hence it is frequently consigned to captivity, and taught to draw its water in a little fairy bucket, or to perform many tricks, some of which have quite a theatrical air : a looking- glass is frequently provided for it, and, from the solace which the mirror affords to the bird, it has been supposed to be the vainest of finches. Let us not, however, be too sure that all this ogling of the reflected form is mere admiration of its own sweet person. Pause, fair lady, before you pronounce this bird to be a little cox- comb. The plumage of the sexes is very nearly similar, the hues of the female being only rather less brilliant, and the prisoner daily deludes himself that the mate which he is doomed never to see is come to visit him. Most affectionate in disposition, it seems absolutely necessary to the Goldfinch's existence that he should have something to love. The translator of Bechstein's little book above alluded to informs us that Madame had one that never saw her depart without making every effort to quit his cage and follow her : her return was welcomed with every mark of delight ; she approached a thousand winning gestures testified his pleasure ; she pre- sented her finger, and it was caressed with low and joyous mur- murs: "this attachment," continues the narrator, "was so exclu- sive, that, if his mistress, to prove it, substituted another person's finger for her own, he would peck it sharply, whilst one of his mistress's, placed between two of this person's, would be imme- diately distinguished and caressed. "t The finches are, for the most part, granivorous ; it is not to be supposed, however, that they do not occasionally feed on cater- pillars, especially in the early part of the year: but seeds form their staple, and some are of opinion that the Goldfinch never touches insects ; but we now turn to a group of singing birds whose nourishment is principally derived from those animals. The Stone-chat;]: pours forth its varied and pretty song as it * Carduelis communis Fringilla Carduelis, Linn. f Cage Birds, &c., by J. M. Bcchstein, with notes by the translator ; small 8vo. London; Orr and Smith. t Saxicola rubicola. RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 35 hovers over the golden furze which contains its nest; and the Pied Wagtail,* a resident in the southern counties of England, warbles to its mate very early in the year from the cattle-shed or the garden-wall, though it is more familiar to us as it runs along the grass-plat or by the margin of the pond, capturing its insect- food. The scarce Dartford Warbler,! like the Stone-chat, utters its hurried trill on the open downs, generally while hovering over the furze, in which it hides itself on the slightest alarm. The familiar Hedge-sparrow:}: cheers us with its agreeable song at a very early period of the year, when bird-music is scarce. The notes of the Gold-crested Wren, the smallest of British birds, can hardly be called a song, but they salute the ear in the beginning of February, and the beautiful little bird, with its elegant nest and pale-brown eggs, weighing nine or ten grains each the bird weighs no more than eighty must not pass un- noticed. A pair, which took possession of a fir-tree in Colonel Montagu's garden, ceased their song as soon as the young were hatched ; and, when they were about six days old, he took the nest and placed it outside his study window. After the old birds had become familiar with that situation, the basket was brought within the window, and, afterwards, was conveyed to the opposite side of the room. The male had regularly assisted in feeding the young ones as long as they remained outside the window ; and, though he attended the female afterwards to that barrier, he never once entered the room, nor brought any food while the young were in it. But the mother's affections were not to be so checked: she would enter, and feed her infant brood at the table where Colonel Montagu was sitting, and even while he held the nest in his hand. One day he moved his head as she was sitting on the edge of the nest which he held. She instantly retreated so precipitately, that she mistook the closed for the open part of the window, dashed herself against the glass, and lay apparently breathless on the floor for some time. Neither the fright nor the hurt could, however, overpower her maternal yearnings. Colonel Montagu had the pleasure of seeing her recover, and soon return, and she afterwards frequently fed her nestlings while he held the nest in his hand. The little mother's visits were generally repeated in the space of a minute and a half, or two minutes, or, upon an average, thirty-six times in an hour; and this continued for full sixteen hours in a day, which would amount to seventy-two feeds daily for each, if equally divided between the eight young ones, amounting in the whole to five hundred and seventy-six. "From examination of the food," * Motacilla alba. t Sylvia provincialis. J Accentor monularis. Regulus cristatus. There are two species, viz., Kegulus aurocapillus (Gold-crested Regulus), and Regulus ignicapillus (Fire-crested Regulus). 36 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. says the Colonel, "which by accident now and then dropped into the nest, I judged, from those weighed, that each feed was a quarter of a grain upon an average, so that each young one was supplied with eighteen grains weight in a day ; and, as the young birds weighed about seventy-seven grains when they began to perch, they consumed nearly their weight of food in four days at that time. I could always perceive by the animation of the brood when the old one was coming; probably some low note indicated her approach, and, in an instant, every mouth was open to receive the insect morsel." When we made our annual pilgrimage last year to Mr. Wa- terer's at Knapp Hill, we were attracted, even surrounded as we were by that wilderness of sweets that assemblage of all that is rich and delicate in colour, when the azalias and rhodo- dendrons form one splendid mass of bloom, almost too beautiful for this earth by one of these little birds that had her nest in a yew hedge skirting one of the paths. An intelligent lad pointed out the " procreant cradle," put in his hand, and took out one of the young ones, then nearly fledged. After it had been viewed and admired for it was very pretty, as most young birds are not he replaced the tiny creature, and, to the inquiry whether the parents would not forsake the nest if so disturbed, he replied in the negative, adding that they were old acquaint- ance, and " didn't mind," for he often took the young ones out to " see how they got on." As soon as the nestling was returned to its happy home, the parent, that had been watching the proceedings from a neighbouring rhododendron gorgeous with flowers, among which her small bright streak of a crest still shone brilliantly, repaired to her family, and covered them with her wings, as if nothing had happened. We trust that Mr. W T aterer's noble collection has been spared by the ruthless season which, even now, chills us as we write ; but we shall go to Knapp Hill under the fear that his lovely and rare hybrids have been sadly scathed. The air is pure and mild there, it is true ; but his Americans All unfit to bear the bitter cold," must have had a severe trial, when hardy, indigenous plants have suffered. Although the Gold-crested Wren braves our severest winters, it appears to be very susceptible of cold, as well as the common Brown Wren of our hedges. The Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert informs us, that, in confinement, the least cold is fatal to them. In a wild state, he says, they keep themselves Warm by constant active motion in the day, and at night, secrete themselves in places where the frost cannot reach them ; but he apprehends RESIDENT SINGING BIRDS. 37 that numbers perish in severe winters. He once caught half a dozen Golden Wrens at the beginning of winter, and they lived extremely well upon egg and meat, being exceedingly tame " At roosting-time there was always a whimsical conflict among them for inside places, as being the warmest, which ended, of course, by the weakest going to the wall. The scene began with a low whistling call among them to roost, and the two birds on the extreme right and left, flew on the backs of those in the centre, and squeezed themselves into the middle. A fresh couple from the flanks immediately renewed the attack upon the centre, and the conflict continued till the light began to fail them. A severe frost in February killed all but one of them in one night, though in a furnished drawing-room. The survivor was preserved in a little cage, by burying it every night under the sofa cushions; but. having been, one sharp morning, taken from under them before the room was sufficiently warmed by the fire, though per- fectly well when removed, it was dead in ten minutes." The common Wren* is too often shot by the sportsman for the sake of the tail-feathers ; these, when skilfully manipulated, admirably represent the spider of February, March, and April, when any thing like an insect is considered a bonne bouche by the trout ; and, indeed, the deceit, if lightly cast by a nice hand on the ripple, is sure to take fish, and good ones, too, " if," as old Izaak hath it, " they be there." The bird may be followed up and down the hedge-row till it will suffer itself to be taken by the hand. Then borrow steal if you will two or three of the precious feathers but let the little warbler go to enjoy its liberty, and furnish "Wren's tails" for another year. We must not forget the Redbreast, as we conclude this imperfect sketch of Resident British Song Birds, already too long. This, the familiar household bird, with its innocent con- fidence, would, we might have hoped, bear a charmed life every- where : but no. Sonnini tells us that it arrives in the Levant in October, seldom passing into the open islands, but seeking the luxuriant myrtle-groves of Scio, and those other isles which offer shade and shelter. There the Greek bird-catcher takes them by dozens in the snares to which, assured by the presence of their murderer, they offer themselves ; and the same war is waged against them, we are sorry to add, in other foreign countries, that one more dish may be added to the luxury and profusion of the table of Dives. With us this friendly bird is, and we trust ever will.be, sacred. When every thing is fettered by frost "When icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail" * Troglodytes E\iyopaeus a Motacilla Troglodytes, Linn. 38 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. even then the plaintive warbling of the Robin is heard ; as if to remind man that, amidst all the apparent desolation, Nature is not dead, but only sleeps, like the Beauty in the wood, to awake with all her former charms renewed. May, 1 838. SINGING BIRDS. VISITERS. " G)a<] moment is it when the throng Of warblers in full concert strong, Strive and not vainly strive to rout The lagging shower, and force coy Phoebus out; Met by the rainbow's form divine Issuing from her cloudy shrine/' woRDswonrii. How different has the season been from that which frowned in 1838 ? In the present year the honest ancient severity of winter bringing to our comparatively open southern waters clouds of hyperborean web-footed fowl, has been followed by a good old-fashioned spring, with the hawthorn in bloom, and even the oak-leaf out, near London, early in May such a spring as we remember in our childhood, when the live-long day was passed in the balmy open air. How tranquil was it to lie among the high and thick sward, already hained tep for the scythe, on the verge of the orchard, then one sheet of blossom, looking askant at the insects in their gold-be -dropped and gorgeously- emblazoned coats, climbing up the stalks of the herbage to gain vantage for their flight, or gazing into the clear blue heaven above in speculation whether the mote, all but invisible, were the lark, whose carol, mellowed by distance, fell upon the ear, while the little sister, near at hand " As in the shining grass she sat conceal'J, Sang to herself ;" and then the importance with which we returned to the house, big with the secret that we had discovered the nest of some errant turkey or guinea-hen, which all the acuteness and ex- perience of the dairy-maid had failed to detect. Those were happy days : but this is prosing ; and we proceed to fulfil our promise of passing rapidly in review those melodious visitors who MIGRATORY SINGING BIRDS. 39 hasten from foreign lands to make the hedge-rows, orchards, and gardens of these fortunate islands their nuptial bowers. This is no place for physiological discussion, and our readers may be assured that they are not about to be drawn into a dissertation on the general organization of the feathered tribes ; but there are few who have thought at all on the subject who have not been struck with the provision against the entire loss of progeny which would otherwise arise from the acts of those who rob nests for profit or wantonness. The eggs abstracted from the nests of the Phasianidse,* TetraonidseJ Plovers, and a long list of others, are frequently replaced by the females, as long as the number appears to be incomplete. The pilferings of the schoolboy bear hard upon the constitutions of the Merulidse\ and the smaller birds ; but, unless nature is quite exhausted by re- peated robberies, the bereaved parents set about constructing a new nest, finish it, and replenish it. How is this effected ? By one of those beautiful adaptations which meet the zoologist at every turn, and bring home to his heart the wisdom and benevo- lence of the Creator. On the breast of the sitting hen is a plexus, or net-work of blood-vessels, which are completely filled during the time of incubation ; but, as long as there is a demand for eggs, and the bird goes on laying, the blood is directed internally, in order to secure the supply till the full complement is laid. When that is accomplished, the blood is no longer sent inwards, but is determined to the plexus on the breast ; and no doubt the smooth and rounded surfaces of the eggs are soothing to the heated bosom of the mother, making her apparently hard and close confinement a labour of pleasure as well as love. We shall have occasion in the course of this sketch to present some striking instances which show that among other mental powers yes, mental, for it is certain that birds are gifted with something beyond mere instinct the songsters who visit us in the season of love, joy, and hope, have very retentive memories. Year after year, if they escape the ravages of the hawk, or of the still more destructive gun, the same pair of visiters will return to the identical nest in its cosy nook, if rude hands have not destroyed the comfortable little home. By those who respect their loves and domestic arrangements, our feathered summer visiters are looked for as friends returning from a far country, and their first appearance on some warm dewy spring morning at the trellis of the cottage door, or the ivied window, or in the well- known laburnum or lilac, is hailed by true lovers of nature with a thrill of pleasure. The songsters themselves seem hardly less * Pheasants, common fowls, &c. ( Grouse, partridges, &c \ Blackbirds and thrushes. 40 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. pleased when they find all right ; and while they warble right merrily, peer down through the open window with their bright little eyes, as who should say, " there you all are at breakfast in your old places, good luck t'ye." In passing our feathered friends in rapid review, we think it better not to notice them in the order of their coming, but rather according to their powers of song ; thus the Muscicapidae, or fly-catchers, and the swallows, have no great pretensions to music, though musical to a certain degree they are, and we will com- mence with them. The spotted fly-catcher (Muscicapa grisola) can hardly be said to be a song-bird, for a chirping call-note forms his whole musical stock ; but it is one of the most welcome and constant of our migratory birds, and the untiring zeal with which it clears the neighbourhood of small insects, such as gnats, make it a cherished guest. Perched on the top of a stake, or a post, or an upper gate-bar, or an outlying branch, the bird remains motionless, till some luckless insect, humming his lay as carelessly as his brother " water-fly," the dandy, hums the favourite air of the last new opera, comes within his range : off darts the fly-catcher, finishing the song and the life of the performer at the same instant, and returns to his station to repeat the exterminating process through the whole day. He is one of our latest visiters, seldom arriving till late in May,* and his quiet hair-brown coat and his dull white waistcoat, spotted and streaked with dark brown, are rarely seen till the oak leaf has well burst the bud. As soon as the bird arrives, it sets about the work of incubation. " The fly-catcher," says the inimitable author of the " History of Selborne," "is of all our summer birds the most mute and the most familiar ; it also appears the last of any. It builds in a vine or sweetbriar against the wall of a house, or in the hole of a wall, or on the end of a beam or plate, and often close to the post of a door, where people are going in and out all day long." We observed a pair for several years, which built in a trellised porch covered with woodbine and the white sweet-scented clematis, undisturbed by the constant ingress and egress of the inmates many of whom were children, or the early and late- arrivals and departures of guests. Few places indeed come amiss to this familiar bird as a locality for its nest. Thus a pair rather improvident architects those built on the head of a garden rake, which had been left near a cottage.t Two others made their nest in a bird-cage, which was suspended, with the door open, from a branch in a garden.^ Another pair chose the angle * In White's Calendar, the earliest and latest periods noted, are May 10 and May 30: in Markwick's, April 29 and May 21. f Magazine of JN T at. Hist. vol. i. $ Blackwall. MIGRATORY SINGING BIRDS. 41 of a lamp-post in a street at Leeds, and there they reared their young.* A nest with five eggs was found on the ornamental crown of a lamp near Portland-place,t and this nest was seen by the well- known author of " British Birds and British Fishes," on the top of the lamp at the office of Woods and Forests, in Whitehall-place. "Of three cup-shaped nests before me," says Mr. Yarrell, "one is formed, on the outside, of old dark-coloured moss, mixed with roots, the lining of grass stems, with only two or three white feathers ; the second has the bottom and outside of fresh green moss, lined with a few grass bents, long horse-hairs, and several mottled feathers, frequently those of a turkey ; the third is similar to the last in the outside, but lined with long horse- hairs, wool, and feathers." As a proof of the memory of this species, and something more, we may mention a fact recorded by Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., the late lamented president of the Horticultural Society of London. A pair built in his stove for many successive years. Whenever the thermometer in the house was above 72, the bird quitted her eggs ; but as soon as the mercury sunk below that point, she resumed her seat upon them. The four or five eggs of this interesting little bird are white, with a bluish tinge, spotted with a faint red, and the worthy male is most assiduous in feeding the female while she sits ; and that as late as nine o'clock at night.J * One word in favour of these poor little birds, which are too often mercilessly shot as fruit-eaters. That they may be seen about cherry and raspberry trees, when the fruit is ripe, there is no doubt, but Mr. Yarrell observes correctly in our opinion- that they seem rather to be induced to visit fruit-trees for the sake of the flies which the luscious fruits attract, than for the sake of the fruits themselves, since, he tells us, on examination of the stomachs of fly-catchers killed under such circumstances, no remains of fruit were found. But whence conies this insect destroyer, so common on every lawn, and in every garden ? From the arid regions of Africa, where its range extends to the west, and even to the south, as far as the Cape. In the pied fly-catcher (Muscicapa atricapilla], a much more rare visitant, we have the powers of song more developed. Its notes, according to Mr. Blackwall, are varied and pleasing, and are compared by Mr. Dovaston to those of the redstart. The male of this pretty species, with his deep black back, and under cover- ing of pure white, with which the forehead and wings are also marked, is, together with its more sombre partner, comparatively * Atkinsjn. Compendium of Ornithology. f Jesse. % White. 4* 42 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. abundant near the charming lakes of Cumberland and Westmor- land. Seven or eight eggs, of a uniform pale blue, are laid in a rather inartificial nest of grass and roots, dead bents, and hair, in holes of decayed trees, oaks principally. In feeding, it resembles the common fly-catcher. The south of Europe, particu- larly the countries that border the Mediterranean, abound with this species. In the Hirundinidse, or swallow family, we have another form of insect-scourge. The attacks of the fly-catcher are desultory, and may be compared to those of an enemy in ambush ; but the swallows come upon the insect hosts in legions, charging and dashing through their ranks with their open fly-traps of mouths. The ranks close, as does a column of infantry or cavalry through which the cannon has cut a lane ; but the winged foe wheels round again, and as the "insect youth" dance in the sun, annihi- lates hundreds. The survivors, like their brother mortals, pursue their dance, and in the midst of life are in death. It may seem strange at first sight to see the Hirundinidse mentioned as song- sters ; but to say nothing of the exhilarating cry of the swift as he darts round the steeple, or of the twitter of the window-swallow, and the bank or sand-martin sounds which all assist in making the air musical, and " aid the full concert" the chimney-swallow, Hirundo rustica, can warble, softly indeed, but sweetly. "The swallow," says White, "is a delicate songster, and in soft sunny weather sings both perching and flying : on trees in a kind of concert, and on chimney-tops." This charming bird, the harbinger of spring, has been welcomed in all countries, and will be so welcomed as long as the seasons last. The poets of all ages have hailed his advent ; and our own Davy, with whose deep philosophy the poetical temperament was strongly mingled, has pronounced his history in a few bright and true words : " He lives a life of enjoyment amongst the loveliest forms of nature : winter is unknown to him ; and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn for the myrtle and orange-groves of Italy, and for the palms of Africa.* The Hirundinidse which visit this country are, the species last above mentioned, the martin (Hirundo urbica), the sand-martin (Hirundo riparia), the common swift (Hirundo^ apus), and but very rarely the alpine or white-bellied swift (Cypselus alpinus'). The chimney-swallow makes his appearance amongst us earlier or later, according to the mildness or severity of the season, but the 10th of April appears to be the general average of the time of its arrival ; the earliest period noted by White is the 26th of March, * Salmonia. -j- Cypselus of modern authors. MIGRATORY SINGING BIRDS. 43 and the latest the 20th of April ; the 7th of April and the 27th of that month, are the respective dates recorded by Markwick. The old French quatrain thus celebrates his habits : " Dans les maisons fait son nid I'Hirondelle, Ou bien souvent dans quelq"ue cheminee: Car & voler legerement est nee, Tant qu'il n'y a oyseau plus leger qu'elle." He who would hear the swallow sing must rise early, for the bird is a matutinal songster, as Apuleius well knew. It would be a waste of time to do more than hint at the exploded fables of swallows retiring under water in the winter, though from time to time some \vorthy goody or gaffer even now tries to revive them, not without some recipients of the tale, so prone is the human mind to catch at any thing wonderful, and so constantly does error again rise to the surface ! but the evidence of the migration of the whole family is now so complete and irresistible, that it amounts to abso- lute proof. Again and again have they been seen crossing the sea, sometimes dropping into it to take a marine bath, and then pursuing their journey refreshed and exhilarated. The martin with his pure white lower back and under parts, most probably turns his neb northward, from Africa, at the same time with the swallow, but his powers of wing cannot keep pace with the extensive sail of the latter, and he generally arrives a few days later. The earliest and latest periods recorded by White are the 28th of March and the 1st of May, and those given by Mark- wick are the 14th of April and the 18th of May. The sand-martin arrives earlier than either of the other two species. The earliest and latest dates recorded by White are the 21st of March and the 12th of April; Markwick's are the 8th of April and the 16th of May. The average time of the arrival of the common-swift is early in May ; but White saw it as early as the 13th of April, and the latest time noticed by him is the 7th of May. Markwick never saw it earlier than the 28th of April, and the latest arrival observed by him was the 19th of that month. The great alpine swift, which chooses the highest rocks and the most towering cathedrals for his nesting-places, can only be con- sidered as an accidental visiter to these islands, and does not appear to have been seen here earlier than in June. The architecture of the three first species of this family here noticed, deserves attention. Early in the season the swallows and house-martins may be seen on the ground in moist places, or near the edges of ponds or puddles. They are then collectingthe clay or mortar, which strengthened with straws and grass-stems to keep it together in the case of the swallow is to form their nest. One course or raise only, as the Devonians call it, is 44 ZOOLOGICAL RECREATIONS. laid on at a time, and that is left to settle and dry before the next is added, as men proceed in making a cob-wall ; and thus the work proceeds, day after day, till the saucer-shaped nest of the swallow and the hemispherical cob-house of the martin are com- plete. The sand-martin proceeds upon a different plan: he is a miner, and excavates his dwelling in the sand-bank, as the ancient Egyp- tian carved his temple out of the solid rock. Look at the bill of this little bird. Though small, it is hard and sharp, and well our sapper knows how to use it. Clinging to the face of the sand- bank with its sharp little claws, and closing its bill, the bird works away with its natural pickaxe, till the hard sand comes tumbling down on all sides. Round he goes, now with his head up, now down, till he has planned his circular cave as regularly almost as compasses could do it; and yet he does not trace it out from a fixed pointin the centre, but works from the circumference. When he has well broken ground, he tunnels away as truly as Sir Isam- bard himself, arid while the bird works into his excavation, he shifts his position as the necessities of the case' require; now he stands on the floor, now he clings to the roof with his back downwards, and how carefully does he remove the rubbish from the upward, inclined floor with his feet, taking care not to disturb its solidity. But we must pause, and refer those who may be interested in the operations of this industrious little bird to Mr. Rennie's excellent description we can vouch for its accuracy in his Architecture of Birds," a book in which every lover of nature will find amuse- ment and instruction. The nest of the common swift is a farrago of bits of rag, a feather or two, dry grass-blades and stems, and fragments of straw ; but these materials appear to be cemented or glued toget'her. What this glue is composed of is not known, though some have sup- posed it to be the saliva, or a mucous secretion of the bird itself. The nests of the Chinese swallow, with which the brother of the sun and moon enriches his soup when they are clean and fair, and glues his bamboo-seat when they are dark and dirty, are said to owe their glutinous quality to Ulvae, or sea-weeds, like our laver, worked up by the builders. But the nest of the common swift, which is deposited under the eaves of the old house or church, in a hole in a steeple, or in some antiquated turret, has generally a very compressed appearance, the result of the pressure of gene- ration after generation there hatched and reared. Here again we have strong evidence of the memory of birds. Dr. Jenner proved by the most irrefragable evidence, that the same pair of birds returned to the same nest year after year. Theirs is a chequered life. When the sun shines bright, and all the insect-world is stirring, the swifts are sporting in the brilliant MIGRATORY SINGING BIRDS. 45 summer-light, and sailing in the air in all the luxury of enjoyment : but let a windy, stormy time come where are they then ? Laid up in solitude and darkness, hour after hour, in their gloomy nesting-places, to climb into which their short feet are admirably adapted, for ajl four of the toes are turned forward to aid them in cre&ping into their narrow dormitories. We cannot quit this family without adverting to a charge made against some of the species abandonment of their young. This has been proved against the swallow and the martin ; and the swift has been suspected, whether justly or not we shall presently inquire. There is no