THESE birds begin to appear about the middle of April, and for some time they pay no attention to the business of nidification, but sport and play about, either to recruit themselves from the fatigue of the journey, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture, after having been so long benumbed by the severities of the winter. The Martin is something less than the swallow, with a great head comparatively, and a wide mouth; the colour a bluish black, and bill white; its legs covered with short white down. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall, without any projecting ledge under, its utmost efforts are necessary to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so as to carry safely the superstructure. On this occasion, the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum; and, thus fixed, it plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But that this work may not, while soft, incline down by its own weight, the provident architect has the prudence and forbearance not to proceed too fast; but by building only in the morning, and dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, he gives it

sufficient time to dry and harden. By this method, in about ten days, the nest is formed, strong, compact, and warm, and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it is intended. But nothing is more common than for the house sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it, eject the owner, and line it according to its own peculiar manner. The Martin will return for several seasons to the same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered and secured from the injuries of the weather. They breed the latest of all our swallows, never being without unfledged young ones, even so late as Michaelmas.

Is about the size and shape of a blackbird; the tips of the feathers on the neck and back are yellow; the feathers under the tail of an ash colour; the other parts of the plumage are black, with a purple or deep blue gloss, changing as it is variously exposed to the light. In the hen, the tips of the feathers on the breast and belly, to the very throat, are white; which constitutes a material point in the choice of the bird, as the female is no singer. She lays four or five eggs, lightly tinctured with a greenish cast of blue. They build in

hollow trees and clefts of rocks, are very easily tamed, and can add to their natural notes any words or modulation they are taught to learn.

In the winter season Starlings collect in vast flocks, and may be known at a great distance by their whirling mode of flight. The evening is the time when they assemble in the greatest numbers, and betake themselves to fens and marshes. Sterne has immortalized the Starling in his Sentimental Journey:"The bird flew to the place where I was attempting his deliverance, and, thrusting his head through the trellis, pressed his head against it, as if impatient.— I fear, poor creature, said I, I can't set thee at liberty. -No,' said the Starling, I can't get out, I can't get out.' Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, slavery, said I,—still thou art a bitter draught!"

Is nearly as big as the common blackbird. He is an English bird, and is found in most counties of the island. He feeds upon fish, yet does not refuse insects when hungry. The head and upper side of the neck are of a kind of umber colour, and sometimes black with a shade of red; the back and coverings of the

wings are a mixture of black and ash colour, the throat and breast perfectly white.

The most peculiar trait in this bird's character is, that he can walk on the pebbly bottom of a shallow stream, in quest of small minnows, as easily as he does on land, without being staggered by the rapidity of the

current.

Buffon states that a correspondent communicated to him the following interesting account of this bird:"While concealed on the verge of the lake Mantua, a Water Ouzel stopped near me for an hour; and I had full leisure to observe its manœuvres. It traversed the whole of the bottom, and in so doing seemed not to have changed its element, and discovered no hesitation nor reluctance in the immersion. However, I perceived several times, that as often as it waded deeper than the knee, it displayed its wings, and allowed them to hang to the ground. I remarked too, that, when I could discern it at the bottom of the water, it appeared enveloped with air, which gave it a brilliant surface; like that on some sorts of beetles, which in water are always enclosed in a bubble of air. Its view, in dropping its wings on entering the water, might be to confine the air; it was certainly never without some, and it seemed to quiver. These singular habits were unknown to all the sportsmen with whom I talked on the subject."

The Water Ouzel will sometimes pick up insects at the edge of the water. When disturbed, it usually flirts up its tail, and makes a chirping noise. Its song in spring is said to be very pretty. In some places this bird is supposed to be migratory.

THE BLACKBIRD, OR BLACK QUZEL. THIS well known songster does not soar up to the clouds, like the lark, to make his voice resound through the air; but keeps steady in the shady groves, which he fills with his melodious notes. Early at dawn, late at dusk, he continues his pleasing melody; and when incarcerated in the narrow space of a cage, cheerful still and merry, he strives to repay the kindness of his keeper by singing to him his natural strains; and beguiles his irksome hours of captivity, by studying and imitating his master's whistle. They build their nest with great art, making the outside of moss and slender twigs, cemented together and lined with clay, and covering the clay with soft materials, as hair, wool, and straw. The female lays four or five eggs, of a bluish green colour, all spotted with brown. The bill is yellow, but in the female the upper part and point are blackish; the inside of the mouth, and the circumference of the eyelids, are yellow. The name of this bird is sufficiently expressive of the general colour of his body. He feeds on berries, fruit, insects, &c. The species of this bird in Surinam and South America is not of so deep a black; the throat and part of the breast are of a crimson colour.