The CREEPER (2) of modest demeanour was there
Yet he seem'd for the throng very little to care.

;

to New York to feed on the young Indian corn; sings well. See the INTRODUCTION.

Several other Buntings are found in this country; I can merely name them. The Cirlus, or CIRL-BUNTING ;-the Chlorocephala, or GREEN-HEADED BUNTING ;-the Montana, MOUNTAIN-BUNTING, Lesser-Mountain-Finch, or Brambling ;and the Mustelina, TAWNY-BUNTING, Great-Pied-MountainFinch, Sea-Lark, or Brambling. This last is rarely met with in England. For an account of another curious bird of this tribe, the Cow BUNTING, or Cowpen, see Part II.

(21) ORDER, Picæ, (Linn.) CREEPER, the COMMON,
the MOCKING.

The genus CERTHIA, (Linn.) or CREEPER, consists of about one hundred species, dispersed through most of the countries of the globe; they feed chiefly on insects, in search of which they creep up and down trees; they breed in hollow trees, and lay numerous eggs; bill arched, slender, somewhat triangular, pointed; feet formed for walking; claws hooked and long. The two following are the chief.

The Familiaris, COMMON CREEPER, Tree Creeper, or TreeClimber, the only species of the genus found in England, is five inches long, has the back, rump, and scapulars, inclining to tawny, beneath white; quill feathers brown; it runs with won. derful facility above or under the branches of trees. Another variety, differing only in being larger. Eggs from six to eight, white, minutely speckled with bright rust colour. During incubation the female is fed by the male.

The Sannis, or MOCKING CREEPER, inhabits New Zealand; seven and a quarter inches long; imitates the voice and notes of other birds with surprising accuracy, whence its name.

K

The BUTCHER-BIRD (22) bold, like his kinsman the SHRIKE,

With his bill was quite ready a death-blow to strike :

(22) ORDER, ACCIPITRES, (Linn.) SHRIKE, the GREAT, the RED-BACKED, the TYRANT, the BUTCHER-BIRD, WOOD. CHAT, &c.

or

The genus LANIUS, (Linn.) or SHRIKE, consists of more than one hundred and twenty species, scattered over the globe; three, the Excubitor or GREAT SHRIKE, the Collurio or LESSER Butcher-Bird, and the Rutilus or WOOD CHAT, found in this country. The bill is straight at the base, the end hooked with a tooth on each mandible near the end; tongue jagged at the end; toes, the outer one connected to the middle one as far as the first joint. The birds of this genus are noisy and quarrelsome; prey on smaller birds, tearing them in pieces, and sticking the fragments on thorns. The following are the chief. The Excubitor, GREAT-SHRIKE, Cinereous-Shrike, Great Cinereous-Shrike, Greater Butcher-bird, Mattages, Wierangle, Murdering-bird, Shreek or Shrike, Night-jar, Mountain-Magpie, French-Pie, consists of three varieties; one has the tail wedged; white at the sides; back hoary; wings black, with a white body; another has a white body; legs yellowish; the third has the smaller wing coverts and shoulders reddish. In all the bill is black, crown and neck hoary; body beneath white, with pale brown arched lines; tail white at the tip, except the two middle feathers; cheeks white, with a black transverse line from the base of the bill; legs black; length ten inches. Found occasionally in England, and said to breed on some of our mountains, coming in May, and departing in September; it has been however seen in this country in November. It is trained in Russia for catching small birds. It does not tear its prey like the hawk, but fixes it to a thorn for the purpose of pulling it to

Fierce and dauntless the tribe, by their cruelty known; The TYRANT infests not our temperate zone.

pieces. It is said to imitate the notes of some other birds by way of decoying them to their destruction.

Of the Collurio, RED-BACKED SHRIKE, or Lesser Butcher-bird, there are several varieties. The first has the tail somewhat wedged, back grey, four middle feathers uniform; bill lead colour. Common to England, which it visits in May, departing in September; eggs five or six, bluish white, with cinereous brown spots, or white with dusky spots. Feeds chiefly on insects, which it transfixes on a thorn, tearing off the body. This variety is called in this country the Butcher-bird; it is said to be a local species; it has been found in North Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire, particularly about Bristol. It is found in Russia and France; and is common in Italy. It is seven inches long.

Another variety has the body grey, beneath reddish brown; inhabits Europe. Two other varieties inhabit Senegal. To these may be added another variety.

The Rutilus, WOOD-CHAT, or Another sort of Butcher-bird, has been by some naturalists described as a distinct species. It is about the size of the Red-backed Shrike; the body above variegated white and black, beneath reddish white. Common to this country.

It is either to this or the Great Shrike that Drayton, I presume, alludes in the following line:

"The sharp-nebb'd Hecco stabbing at his brain ;"

OWL.

but this I have not been enabled, notwithstanding all my inquiries, accurately to determine. We sometimes wonder at the obscurity of the Classics, but here is a line, written scarcely two hundred years ago, that is not, it appears, now intelligible. Drayton again speaks of the Hecco in his Polyolbion, Song xiii.

The STORK (23) too, in plumage resplendent and white, With black mingled tastefully, soar'd in the light;

thus, "The laughing Hecco." What bird he means by the Tydy, in the preceding line,

"The Tydy for her notes as delicate as they,"

I do not know; nor do I know to what bird he alludes, in another line of the same song, under the term Yellow-pate.

The Tyrannus, or TYRANT-SHRIKE, has the body cinereous, beneath white, crown black, with a longitudinal tawuy streak; eight inches long; builds in hollow trees; fierce, audacious; fixes on the back of eagles and hawks, and makes a continual chattering till they are compelled to retire. Three other varieties. Inhabits América.

(23) Order, GraLLÆ, (Linn.) Stork, Crane, Demoiselle, HERON, BITTERN, ADJUTANT, EGRET, &c.

The genus ARDEA, (Linn.) or CRANE, consists of more than one hundred species, of which the Ciconia, or STORK, is one of the chief. This tribe is distinguished by a long, straight, and pointed bill, sub-compressed with a furrow from the nostril towards the tip; nostrils linear; tongue pointed; feet four-toed, cleft. Every quarter of the globe furnishes some of the species. The following are the chief.

The Ciconia, STORK, or White-Stork, inhabits Europe, Asia, and America, yet never, it is said, within the tropics. It is three feet three inches long; bill red; the plumage is wholly white, except some of the scapulars, the greater coverts, and quill feathers, which are black. It is rarely met with in England; vast numbers resort to Holland, there to breed, and depart in autumn to winter in Egypt and Barbary; it is common also in France and Spain. In most countries the inhabitants hold them in veneration, most probably from their destroying

Distinguish'd and highly, in annals of fame,

The sacred GRALLATOR from Belgium last came;

reptiles, on which they feed; boxes are sometimes provided for them on the tops of houses; eggs from two to four, yellowish white, the size of those of a goose. Collins in his Ode to Liberty thus alludes to the Stork:

"Or dwell in willow'd meeds more near

With those to whom thy Stork is dear."

In a note to the poem we are informed that among the Dutch are severe penalties for killing this bird; and that they are kept tame in almost all their towns, particularly at the Hague, of the arms of which they make a part.

The Grus, CRANE, or COMMON-CRANE, weighs nearly ten pounds, and is in length five feet; the predominant plumage of this bird is ash colour. It is common in many parts of Europe and in Asia, migrating with the season. It was formerly common in the fenny districts of this country, but is now more rare. Makes a singular noise in its flight, which is said to be owing to the formation of its windpipe. Eggs two, bluish; feeds on reptiles and green corn. The young good food.

The Virgo, DEMOISELLE-HERON, Numidian-Crane, or DancingCrane, is in length three feet three inches; the bill is two inches and a half long, straight, greenish at the base, changing to yellow with a red tip; the crown is ash colour; the rest of the head, greater part of the neck behind, and all forwards to the breast, black; feathers of the latter very long, some at least nine inches, hanging loose over the adjacent parts; the lower part of the neck behind, back, wings, tail, and all beneath, bluish ash; behind each eye springs a large tuft of long white feathers, which decline forwards, and hang in an elegant aud graceful manner; legs long and black. Both sexes much alike. Inhabits Africa, the warmer parts of Asia, and the shores of the