The JAY and the MAGPIE both chatter'd aloud; The WREN crowd,

GOLDEN-CRESTED, apart from the

in former times, the liberal intelligence of the present age can only regard them with a smile-the poor Raven, harsh as its notes are, may now croak in peace,-without fear and without any accompanying malediction. See a curious poem entitled the Raven, in the Anthology, vol. ii. page 240, written, it is presumed, by SOUTHEY.

The Corone, CROW, COMMON CROW, Carrion Crow, or Gor Crow, inhabits Europe, Siberia, North America, New Guinea, New Holland, Madeira, and this country: it is entirely black; two other varieties; one variegated with white, the other entirely white; eighteen inches long; feeds on carrion or small weak animals, fruit, and grain; builds in lofty trees; nest always solitary; eggs bluish green, with black streaks and spots; usually five in number; rarely at any time of the year gregarious.

The Cornix, HOODED-CROW, Royston-Crow, Dun-Crow, ScareCrow, or Buting-Crow, is dark ash colour, head, throat, wings, and tail, black; twenty-two inches long; eggs bluish green, with blackish brown spots; feeds on almost every thing; inhabits Europe, Asia, and this country; migrates. See the

INTRODUCTION.

The Monedula, JACK-DAW, Daw, or Chough, inhabits Europe, and West Siberia, one variety Persia; well known in England. There are numerous varieties, the principal in this country is black; but some of the varieties are brown, others white; others with the wings white, and a white collar round the neck; thirteen inches long; builds in old turrets or lofty rocks, sometimes in rabbit holes; eggs pale, less, and not so much spotted as those of the Hooded-crow; very gregarious and easily tamed ; thievish; feeds on insects, grains, and seeds; utters a harsh, shrill cry, or squeak.

With the REDBREAST, in converse, delighted was seen, On a broad branching oak or some tall evergreen.

Shakespeare has mentioned this bird under the name of chough, in his description of Dover Cliffs, King Lear, Act iii. Scene 6. "The crows and choughs that wing the midway air

Scarce seem so gross as beetles."

And CowPER has written a pleasing poem called the JACKDAW; it begins thus:

"There is a bird who by his coat,
And by the hoarseness of his note,
Might be supposed a crow :

A great frequenter of the church,

Where bishop-like he finds a perch,

And dormitory too."

The note, however, of the Jack-daw, is much more shrill than the Crow's, and can scarcely be mistaken for it, indeed, never, by an accurate observer.

The Glandarius, or JAY, inhabits the woods of Europe and Siberia, and is well known in this country. The wing coverts are blue, with transverse black and blue lines; body pale rusty purple, mixed with grey; two varieties. Thirteen inches long; very docile, easily tamed, and may be taught to speak; eggs six, dull olive, spotted with brown, size of a pigeon's. Collects nuts and other fruits, and hides what it cannot eat; feeds also on corn, small birds, and eggs.

"Proud of cerulean stains

From heaven's unsullied arch purloin'd, the Jay
Screams hoarse."

GISBORNE'S Walks in a Forest,-Spring.

The Cristatus, or BLUE JAY, is an elegant bird, peculiar to North America; length eleven inches; head with a crest of light blue or purple feathers, which can be elevated or de

The WOODLARK his song warbled loud on the wing; And the TITLARK was eager to shew he could sing ;

pressed at the will of the bird; back and upper part of the neck a fine light purple, in which the blue predominates; a collar of black proceeds in a graceful curve to the breast, where it forms a crescent; chin, cheeks, throat, and belly white, the three former tinged with blue; greater wing coverts a rich blue; the predominant colours of the whole plumage blue; beneath dirty white, faintly tinged with purple. A noisy chattering bird; notes very various; nest large; eggs five, dull olive, spotted with brown; feeds on a variety of different food, both animal and vegetable; attacks and destroys small birds, eating their eggs, &c.; may be taught to speak. It is gregarious in September and October. Found in the temperate regions of North America and in Newfoundland.

The Caryocatactes, or NUT-CRACKER, inhabits Europe and Siberia; body brown, dotted with white, wings and tail black; thirteen inches long; lives chiefly in pine forests; collects and feeds on insects, berries, and nuts. Rarely found in England; frequently in Germany and other parts of Europe.

Of the Pica, MAGPIE, Mag, Madge, Pie, or Hagister, there are four varieties :-variegated black and white,-variegated sooty black and white,-body longitudinally streaked with black and white,-and totally white. It is eighteen inches long, a considerable portion of which is tail. Inhabits Europe and North America; well known in this country; feeds on worms, &c.; builds in trees or thorn bushes; covers over its nest with thorns, leaving commonly two entrances; eggs five, greenish, with dusky spots. May be easily tamed, and taught to imitate the human voice; when tamed, thievish, and hides almost every thing which it carries away; will carry away many things for which it cannot have any possible use. Its notes are a kind of chattering. For a further account of this bird's nest, see the Introduction.

While other birds join'd in a jig or a reel,

The GOATSUCKER humm'd with his loud spinning

wheel.

GISBORNE thus describes this bird:

"From bough to bough the restless magpie roves,
And chatters as he flies."

WALKS IN A FOREST,-Spring.

The magpie is not, I believe, generally considered a very pugnacious bird; upon some occasions, however, it will exert its energies my friend, the POET LAUREATE, informs me, that since his residence in Cumberland, he saw in that part of the country three magpies give battle to a Hawk, (the Falco Tinnunculus, I presume,) and beat him.

The Graculus, Red Legged CROW, Cornish-duw, Cornwallkee, Killigrew, or Cornish Chough, inhabits the Alps, Norway, England, Egypt, and Persia; it is violet-blackish; bill and legs red; sixteen inches long; it is restless, clamorous, voracious, thievish, and gregarious; builds on rocks; feeds on juniper berries, and insects. It is pleased with glitter, and is, it is said, apt to catch up bits of lighted sticks, by which mischief is sometimes produced; eggs four or five, spotted with yellow.

The whole of this genus of birds have been commonly con sidered as mischievous and destructive; and, too often, writers on natural history have echoed the vulgar opinion. But they are, I think, beyond question, a very useful tribe, the mischiefs which they do being very much outweighed by the good which they produce in the destruction of worms, slugs, &c. so injurious to the fruits of the earth.

* See the description of the GoAT-SUCKERS in Part II.

The BULFINCH, the REDWING, and OwLs too

were there;

And some SWALLOWS, (9) that live almost ever in air;

(9) ORDER, PASSERES, (Linn.) SWALLOW, MARTIN, Swift.

The genus HIRUNDO, (of Linn.) to which the COMMON SWALLOW belongs, consists of more than sixty species, dispersed over the four quarters of the globe, a few of which forming the tribe of Swifts, have the four toes all placed forwards; the rest three before, and one behind. Of all the feathered tribe the swallow is most upon the wing, flight appearing its natural and almost necessary attitude; in this state, it feeds and bathes itself, and, sometimes, procreates and nourishes its young. The following are the chief:

The Rustica, SWALLOW, CHIMNEY, or COMMON SWALLOW, has the front and chin chesnut, the tail feathers, except the two middle ones, with a white spot; a variety with the body entirely white; six inches long. Builds in chimneys; sometimes beneath the roofs of out-houses, &c.; lays from four to six white eggs, speckled with red. Arrives in this country in April, leaves it in general at the end of September; seen sometimes late in October. When it flies low, is said to presage a storm, in consequence of its food, flies, not ascending high in the atmosphere at such times.

The notes of the swallow are aptly designated by the term "twittering," they can hardly be called a song, although consisting of several sounds by no means disagreeable.

GRAY has immortalized this bird by one expressive line, in his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard;

"The swallow, twittering from the straw-built shed:"

and DRAYTON, its mode of feeding, in another;

"The swift-wing'd swallow feeding as it flies."

Noah's Ark.

See more concerning this bird and its nest in the Introduction.