The WHIMBREL, grallator with bill arch'd and long, Was also seen lifting his head 'midst the throng.

about the size of the Green Shank; it has been killed in Lincolnshire.

The Phaopus, WHIMBREL, Curlew-knot, Curlew Jack, HalfCurlew, Stone-Curlew, has an arched bill about three inches long; the body is brownish; length eighteen inches. This bird has all the manners of the Curlew. Migrates, arriving in this country in August, and continuing through the winter. Inhabits Europe and America.

The Glottis, GREEN-SHANK, Green-Legged Horseman, or Greater Plover, has the bill about two inches and a half long; legs greenish and very long; inhabits Europe, Africa, and America. Length fourteen inches. Migrates; seen in small flocks on our coasts in winter, and in fens and marshes contiguous to the sea. Breeds in Sweden, Russia, and Siberia. It has also been seen in Africa and America.

The Arquata, COMMON CURLEW, Curlew or Wheap, varies much in size, weighing from twenty to upwards of thirty ounces; length of the largest about twenty-five inches. The bill is from six to seven inches long, dusky black; wings blackish, with snowy spots; body above, and breast, with dusky brown spots; chin, rump, and beneath, white; legs long, bluish; feeds on worms and marsh insects, and frequents also the sea-shore. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and Africa, and common in winter on the sea-coasts of this country; in summer they retire to the mountains, where they pair and breed; they make no nest, but deposit their eggs amongst heath, rushes, or long grass; generally four in number, pale olive, spotted with brown; flesh by some thought good, but often rank and fishy. Another variety, diversified with rufous and black, found in North America.

The common notes of this bird are hoë, hoë, hoë; it utters also corlew occasionally, whence its name. Whether Miss WILLIAMS be justified in calling the sounds which this bird utters a

t

The WOODPECKER (") pleas'd left his "hollow beech tree;"

In the crowd he appear'd, join'd by rapture and glee.

"melancholy wail," which she does in a Sonnet that has many admirers, may be questioned:

"Soothed by the murmurs of the sea-beat shore,
His dun-grey plumage floating to the gale,

The CURLEW blends his melancholy wail

With those hoarse sounds the rushing waters pour."

This lady, following our Dictionaries and Poets, accents Curlew on the first syllable; it is however pronounced very often, I believe almost always, in the west of England with the accent on the last, Curlew': I have in the text, much against my inclination, followed the printed custom.

The Pigmea or PIGMY CURLEW is about the size of a Lark; weighs scarcely two ounces; it is a very rare bird; one is said to have been killed in Holland, another in Kent.

The CURLEW has been arranged as a distinct genus by Dr. Latham, under the term NUMENIUS, with fifteen species.

(1) ORDER PICÆ, (Linn.) WOODPECKER, THE GREAT BLACK, THE GREEN, THE Golden-winged, THE IVORYBILLED, &c.

The Genus PICUS or WOODPECKER, (Linn.) comprises above ninety species, five of which are common to this country. The tribe are distinguished by a straight angular bill, wedged at the tip; nostrils covered with reflected bristles; tongue much longer than the bill, round, worm-shaped, bony, missile, dag. gered, beset at the point with bristles, bent back; tail feathers ten, stiff, sharp-pointed; feet scansile. The following are the chief of this very curious genus, which are principally inhabitants of America.

THE GREAT BLACK-THE GREEN WOODPECKER. 165

Hast thou e'er, when alone, amidst woodlands remote,
In the forest far distant from dwellings of men,-
In the grove's gloomy umbrage,-the mountain's
deep glen,-

When solemnity, solitude, silence, excite

A feeling of awe that no pen may indite,
Been startled by some bird's appalling loud note?

The Martius, or GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER is black except the crown of the head, which is vermilion; size of a jackdaw; length seventeen inches; builds a large and deep nest in some tree, which it excavates for the purpose; eggs two or three, white. This bird is very scarce in England; it is said however to have been met with in Devonshire. It is found in other parts of Europe generally, and also in`Chili. It chiefly resides among poplar trees, feeding on bees and ants. In winter this bird disappears. In the female the hind head only is red. These birds strike with such force against the trees which they excavate, that the noise is heard as far as a wood-cutter's hatchet. The hole which they make in the tree is generally round, and of course sufficiently large to admit their bodies. It appears that their reasons for thus scooping out trees are two; the first for the purpose of obtaining ants and insects which secrete themselves in the soft or rotten wood, and afterwards for a nest.

The Viridis, Green Woodpecker, Woodspite, Rain-bird or Rain-fowl, High-hoe, Hew-hole, Awl-bird, Yapping-ale, Yaffle or Yaffler, Woodwall or Poppinjay, is thirteen inches long; the general colour of this bird is green; the crown is crimson; the rump is yellow, beneath a very pale yellowish green; the bill is two, the tongue six, inches long. Another variety with the upper part of the head and spots beneath the ears deep red. The first variety is found in Europe and our own country; the se

That note is the Woodpecker's,-there may'st thou see The harsh screaming scansor on many a tree.

cond, Mexico. Eggs five or six, greenish, spotted with black, which it lays in a hole scooped out in a decaying tree; the elm, the asp, or the ash, is usually chosen, rarely if ever the oak for such a purpose. A modern poet, Mr. MOORE, has immortalized this bird in a beautiful song called the Woodpecker; it is well known, but the first stanza it may be here permitted me to quote :

"I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd

Above the green elms that a cottage was near; And I said, if there's peace to be found in the world, A heart that was humble might hope for it here. Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound, But the Woodpecker tapping the hollow beech tree.” The note of this bird is sufficiently described in the text.

The Principalis, WHITE-BILLED WOODPECKER, or Ivory. billed Woodpecker, (supposed to be the largest of the tribe,) is black, crest scarlet, bill prodigiously strong, elegantly fluted, and as white as ivory; cap in the female not coloured; twenty inches long. Feeds on the worms found in rotten trees; stomach an oblong pouch, not muscular like the gizzards of granivorous birds. Inhabits America from New Jersey to Brazil; habits like the last species. This bird from the great quantity of chips which it makes is called, by the Spaniards, the Carpenter's bird.

The Erythrocephalus or RED-HEADED WOODPECKER has the head wholly red, wings and tail black, belly white; female head brown; nine and a half inches long; habits like the last. Found in North America; in the winter, grows tame, and enters houses like the red-breast; migrates; feeds on acorns, fruits, and Indian corn.

There came, too, the STARE (12), made immortal by

STERNE,

In a lesson which young and which old ought to learn:

The Auratus, GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER or Flicker, inhabits almost all North America, and is very variegated in its plumage; eleven inches long; migrates; often found in Pennsylvania the whole winter; feeds on worms, insects, and occasionally on berries and grass.

The Pubescens, or DowNY WOODPECKER has the back longi. tudinally downy; outer tail feathers white, with four black spots; hind head in the male red; size of a sparrow; inhabits North America in vast flocks; is bold, and very injurious to orchards, making one hole close to another in a horizontal line, till it has completed a circle of holes all round the

tree.

The following may be also mentioned as found in this country; but, as their habits are very similar to the Green Woodpecker, they require no particular notice. The Villosus or HAIRY WOODPECKER is nearly nine inches long; above black, beneath white; found in the north of England, common in America. The Major or GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER is nine inches long; the predominating colours of this bird are black and white; eggs five, white. Mr. SWEET informs me that he had one of this species domesticated, and that it de stroyed and ate small birds. The Minor or LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER is only five inches and a half long; eggs five, white. This bird is called in Gloucestershire Hickwall and Crank-bird.

(12) ORDER, PASSERES, (Linn.) STARLING, WATER OUZEL, &c.

The genus STURNUS, (Linn.) to which the STARE, Sturnus Vulgaris, belongs, comprehends nearly forty species, scattered over the globe, two only common to our own country.