posed to breed several times in the year. These birds are so common in Kent, that they are sometimes seen in flock of twenty, or more, frequenting the pea-fields, and are said to do much damage. Their stay with us seldom exceeds more than four or five months, during which time they pair, build their nests, breed, and rear their young; which are strong enough to join them in their retreat.

The fidelity of these birds has furnished poets and sentimental writers with the most beautiful allusions; and it is generally asserted, that if a pair be put into a cage, and one happens to die, the other will not survive it.

THIS bird is of the sparrow kind; which class chiefly reside in the neighbourhood of man, and are his peculiar favourites. The falcon may be more esteemed, and the turkey more useful, as animals reclaimed to supply some of the conveniences of life; but these little painted songsters conciliate our affections both by their beauty and their melody: they fill our groves with harmony, and elevate our hearts to sympathise with their raptures.

The above beautiful and well-known bird is one of the first that proclaims the genial spring, and its note, when heard at a distance, is the most pleasing of all the grove; though it is rather unpleasant in a cage, being loud and deafening. It is a solitary animal, generally found in sequestered woods, or other retired situations. It feeds on worms, snails, insects, &c. but when domesticated, it will eat any sort of flesh meat, either raw or dressed, provided it be not salt.-The female builds an artificial nest, well plastered on the inside with clay, straw, hair, and usually lays four or five blueish eggs.

and

THIS bird is universally esteemed, both for the melody of its note, and the beauty of its colours; and is too well known to require a description. It is of a mild and gentle nature, soon becomes reconciled to captivity, and may be easily taught a variety of entertaining tricks. The female generally builds in fruit-trees, and lays five or six eggs, of a white colour, speckled, and marked with a redish brown.

THIS bird, which weighs only three drachms, and is but four inches in length, from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, is admired for the loudness of its note, compared with the little body whence it issues; and even when confined in a cage, it has sometimes been known to sing as strong as in its native fields, and with equal freedom and mellowness of song. It commonly creeps about hedges or trees, in the vicinity of farm-yards, and sings very late in the evening, though not, like the nightingale, after the landscape is enveloped in darkness.-The fe

male constructs a very curious nest, and lays from ten to fifteen eggs, which are very small, white, and sprinkled with red spots.

THE redbreast is less celebrated for its music than its attachment to mankind; its bill is slender and delicate; its eyes are dark, large, and expressive, and its aspect mild; its head and all the upper parts of its body are brown, tinged with a greenish olive; the neck and breast are of a fine deep redish orange; a spot of the same colour marks its forehead: its belly is whitish, and the legs and feet of a dusky black. It is near six inches in length, from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail; the former being about half an inch, and the latter two inches and a half.

This bird, in our climate, has the sweetest song of all others: the notes of other birds, indeed, are louder, and their inflections more capricious; but the redbreast's voice is soft, tender, and well supported; and the more to be valued, as we enjoy it the greatest part of the winter.

During the spring, this well-known bird haunts the wood, the grove, and the garden, and retires to the thickest and shadiest hedge-rows to breed in: and in winter endeavours to support itself by chirping round the warm habitations of mankind, and by coming into those shelters where the rigour of the season is artificially expelled, and where insects are found in the greatest numbers, attracted by the same cause.-The female lays four to five eggs, of a dull white colour, diversified with redish streaks.

ALL the birds of this name, including the sky-lark, the wood-lark, and the tit-lark, are distinguishable from other small volatiles by the length of their heels: they are also louder in their song, but not so pleasing. Indeed the music of every bird in captivity is but the mirth of a little animal insensible of its unfortunate situation; it is the scenery of the umbrageous grove or rural landscape, the golden break of day, the fluttering from branch to branch, the soaring in the air, or the answering of its young, that gives the bird's song its true relish, and elevates the mind to a state of the highest, yet most harmless exultation. Nothing in this point of view, can be more gratifying than to hear the lark warbling upon the wing; raising its note as it soars aloft; then descending with a swell as it comes from the clouds, yet sinking by degrees as it approaches its nest, the spot where all its affections are centered, the spot which has excited all its joy, and called forth those harmonious strains.

The female builds her nest upon the ground, beneath some turf that serves to screen it from observation: she lays four or five eggs, of a dusky hue; and when her little family come forth, she may be seen fluttering over their heads, directing their motions, anticipating their wants, and sedulously guarding them from danger. Indeed, the instinctive attachment which this animal bears to her young is sometimes discovered at a very early period, and even before she is capable of becoming a mother.

The common food of the young larks is worms and insects; but after they are grown up, they live chiefly on seeds, herbage, and most other vegetable substances.

THIS is a very common bird, and, when at full growth, measures, from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, six inches, of which the tail is two. It has a black short bill, very strong and crooked, the upper part hanging over the under like that of a hawk; the tongue short, and the eyes of a hazel colour; the head and neck, in proportion to the body, larger than the generality of small birds, from which, most probably, they derived their name. In some places they are called ropes; in others, thick-bills; and in some, hoops; probably from their wild hooping kind of note.

The bullfinch makes its nest of an ordinary mean fa bric, in bushes, in which the female lays five or six eggs, of a blueish colour, with dark brown and redish spots. In the summer, it mostly frequents woods, and the more retired places; but in winter it approaches gardens and orchards, where it makes great havoc among the buds of

trees.

The cock is in size equal to the hen, but has a flatter crown, and excels her in the beauty of his colours. In a state of nature, this bird has but three cries, all of which are unpleasant: but if man deigns to instruct it methodically, and accustoms it to fine, mellower, and more lengthened strains, it will listen with attention; and the docile bird, whether male or female, without relinquishing its native airs, will imitate exactly, and sometimes even surpass, its master.

These birds must not be taken too young; they should be at least twelve days old: at first they must be fed the same as the young linnet, chaffinch, &c. with bread, milk, and rape-seed, made into a paste; and, when grown up, with rape and canary-seed, three-fourths rape, and