strong and interesting. The nest is formed of hay and straw, and is lined with feathers, and is so placed as to be screened from the sun and rain. The cock Sparrow is distinguished from the hen by a jet black spot under the bill, on a whitish ground.

IN their habits and manners the Nuthatches are nearly allied to the woodpeckers. There are several species of this bird, but only one is found in England, the length of which is five inches and three quarters; the upper mandible is black, and the lower white. The tongue is short, horny at the end, and jagged. All the upper parts of the body are of bluish gray; the cheeks and chin are white; the breast and belly pale orange coloured; and the quills dusky; the tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers, the two middle ones of which are gray, the two outer spotted with white, and the rest dusky. The legs are pale yellow, the claws are large, and the back one is very strong.

This bird is shy and solitary, frequenting the woods, and running rapidly up and down the trees. It often moves its tail like the wagtail. The manners of all the other species very nearly correspond with the European Nuthatch; most of them feed on insects, and

some of them on hazel nuts. The mode in which this bird extracts the kernel from the shell is curious. As it is unable to hold the nut, it wedges it into some crevice, as into a vice, and, standing over it, perforates the shell with its bill. This it accomplishes with great quickness and dexterity. The rapping noise which it makes may be heard to a considerable distance.

The female deposits her eggs, six or seven in number, in some hole of a tree, frequently in one that has been deserted by the woodpecker, on rotten wood mixed with moss, and if the entrance be too large, she partly closes it with clay.-The Nuthatch does not migrate, but in winter approaches nearer inhabited places, and is sometimes seen in orchards and gardens. It is supposed not to sleep perched, and when it rests it has mostly the head downward, and even with the body.

THE bill of this bird is of a pale blue, tipped with black; the eyes are hazel; the forehead is black; the crown of the head, and the hinder part and sides of the neck are of a bluish ash colour; the sides of the

head, throat, fore part of the neck, and the breast are of a vinaceous red; the belly, thighs, and vent white, slightly tinged with red; the back is of a reddish brown, changing to green on the rump: both greater and lesser coverts are tipped with white, forming two pretty large bars across the wing; the bastard wing and quill feathers are black, edged with yellow; the tail, which is a little forked, is black, the outermost feather edged with white; the legs are brown. The female wants the red upon the breast; her plumage in general is not so vivid, and inclines to green; in other respects it is not much unlike that of the male.

This handsome little bird is every where well known; it commences its short and repeated song early in the spring, and continues it till about the middle of summer, after which it is heard no more. The female lays generally five or six eggs, of a pale reddish colour, sprinkled with dark spots, principally at the larger end. During the time of hatching, the male is very assiduous in his attendance, seldom straying far from the nest, and then only to procure food. Chaffinches subsist chiefly on small seeds of various kinds; they likewise eat caterpillars and insects, with which they also feed their young. They are seldom kept in cages, as their song possesses no variety, and they do not readily learn the notes of other birds. The males frequently maintain obstinate combats, and fight till one of them is vanquished, and compelled to give way. In Sweden these birds perform a partial migration; the females collect in large flocks in the latter end of September, and, leaving their mates, spread themselves through various parts of Europe: the males continue in Sweden, and are again joined by their females, who return in great numbers, about the beginning of April, to their wonted haunts.

THIS bird is the halcyon of the ancients, who believed that, while the female brooded over her eggs, the sea remained unvexed by storms, and thence arose the expression of halcyon days. Though, in consequence of the head and bill being out of proportion to the body, the Kingfisher is somewhat inelegant in shape, it is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, of British birds. As the bird glances swiftly along, the bright blue of his back and wings changes into deep purple, or brilliant green, according to the angles of light under which he presents himself. He is seven inches in length, and eleven in breadth. The bill is near two inches long, and black, but the base of the lower mandible is yellow. The tongue is fleshy, short, flat, and acute. The top of the head and the sides of the body are of a dark green, marked with transverse spots of blue; the tail is of a deep blue, and the other parts of the body are dusky orange, white, and black; the legs are red; the feet are formed for climbing, two of the toes being backward, and two forward; the wings are short, but they fly very swiftly.

The Kingfisher is found throughout Europe. It preys on the smaller fish, and sits frequently on a branch projecting over the current; there it remains motionless, and often watches whole hours to catch the moment when a little fish springs under its station; it dives perpendicularly into the water, where it continues several seconds, and then brings up the fish, which it carries to land, beats to death, and then swallows; but it afterwards throws up the indigestible parts.

When this bird cannot find a projecting bough, it sits on some stone near the brink, or even on the gravel; but the moment it perceives the fish, it takes a spring upward, of twelve or fifteen feet, and drops perpendicularly from that height. Often it is observed to stop short in its rapid course, and remain stationary, hovering like a hawk, over the same spot for several seconds. Such is its mode in winter, when the muddy swell of the stream, or the thickness of the ice, constrains it to leave the rivers, and ply along the sides of the unfrozen brooks. In this way it traverses many leagues.

This bird lays its eggs, to the number of seven or more, in a hole in the bank of the river or stream that it frequents; the eggs are considerably larger than those of the yellow-hammer, and of a transparent white colour.

The feathers of the Kingfisher are employed for many superstitious uses by the Tartars and the Ostiacs, who consider them as amulets of the greatest value, and as enabling them to inspire women with love. Even in more civilized countries it was once believed that if the body of a Kingfisher were suspended by a thread some magnetic influence would turn its breast to the north. Others also imagined that it would preserve woollen cloths from the moths.