which well may be called a miracle, how it can rear such a number of young without missing one; but this is done by the power and providence of that Being, who implanted the first seeds of knowledge into the minds of all animals, and who takes care not only of the greatest, but of the most minute parts of the creation. The wren is a little neat bird, carries its tail almost erect, seems not to be able for long flights, as I have heard of them run down and caught. The whole upper part of the body is a dark-brown,the wings and tail neatly barred with darker colours. Species 3.-The Golden-Crested Wren. Will. Orn. 227. Raii Syn. Av. 79. Motacilla Regulus, Lin Sys. 338. Brit. Zool. 267. THIS most beautiful species is pretty frequent with us; continues all the year round. I saw one of them run down in winter. It appears not to have a strong wing; takes but small flights. In very hard winters it creeps into holes of houses and quarries, where I have found them; particularly in breaking up several layers of a fine figured slate-quarry in Corn-holm of Copinsha, I found a golden-crested wren at the farthest end of a chink, and where it was confined by the falling in of the rubbish. Its fine crest distinguishes it from all others of our small birds, as well as its bulk, which scarcely equals the wren; besides its make is more slender and longer than the other. Species 4.-The Wheat-Ear. Wheat-Ear, Fallow-Smitch, White-Tail, Wil. Orn. 233. Raii Syn. Av. 75. Motacilla Oenanthe, Lin. Sys. 332. Brit. Zool. 269. Orc. Chack. THIS is a migratory bird, but stays with us till the end of harvest; goes off in winter, but to what place I am unacquainted. The country people tell us they are sleepers, and have been found in a torpid state in the winter season in old walls, under great stones, &c.; however this is, they entirely disappear, and revisit us in April. They build in old walls, either stone or earth, under stones, and such like places; make a large nest of straws, grass, and line it with horse-hair; lay a number of eggs, (generally six), of a bluish-green colour, large for the size of the bird. They are very solicitous for their young; make a great deal of chattering when one is near the nest; live on insects, which they are very nimble in catching, worms of all kinds, but no grain, as far as I have observed. The young follow their parents while they are here; do not acquire their true colours for the first year; are much spotted about the head and breast; the black stroke on the eye does not appear as in old birds; and they have a general gray appearance, except the tail, which is black, and the rump white, by which they may easily be known. This bird, for what reason I cannot say, seems to be proscribed in Orkney. Young and old destroy both eggs and birds of it, and this not for any other end but the seeming effects of wanton cruelty, as it seems a quite harmless creature. We may attribute this to that unaccountable prejudice, which sometimes gets into the human heart, against particular places and things, and which is carefully propagated to us by our nurses. GENUS XV. THE SWALLOW. Gen. Char.-Bill short, broad at the base, small at the point, and a little bending; nostrils open; tongue short, broad, and cloven; legs short; tail forked; wings long. Species 1.-The House-Swallow. House, or Chimney-Swallow, Wil. Orn. 212. Raii Syn. Av. 71. Hirundo Rustica, Lin. Sys. 343. Brit.Zool. 242. Brit. Zool. Illus. 12. tab. 9. fig. 1. THIS bird is found, though not in great numbers, in Kirkwall, where it builds its nest in the house chimneys. As elsewhere, it migrates from us in winter, as our country cannot at that rigorous season afford it insect-food, its sustenance. K Species 2.-The Martin.* Martin, Martlet, or Martinet, Wil. Orn. 213. Raii Syn. Av. 71. Hirundo Urbica, Lin. Sys. 344. Brit. Zool. 243. THE only place I have observed this species in Orkney is the great church of Kirkwall, where they make their clay nests in the corners of the windows. In Scotland 1 remember to have seen them build in rocks, and in the arches of bridges, particularly in one called the Gannachie-Bridge, in the shire of Angus, where they build in hundreds. Here they are less frequent; like the last they go off in winter. Species 3.-The Sand-Martin. Sand-Martin, or Shore-Bird, Wil. Orn. 213. Raii Syn Av. 71. Hirundo Riparia, Lin. Sys. 344. Brit. Zool. 244. Orc. Witchuck. THIS is the most common bird of the swallow-tribe in the Orkney Isles; builds very frequently in the banks of the loch of Stennes, and that of Skeal, in the sand. The nest is placed a good way under ground, and composed of all the soft materials it can pick together, such as hay, straw, feathers, &c. I have observed the Black-Martin (Hirundo apus, Lin.) once or twice, but seemingly strayed birds. Mr Thomson has most beautifully described this particular of the small birds' yearly task in his Spring, which, with a quotation or two from another author on the same subject, shall conclude this account of the land-birds in Orkney... Some to the holly-hedge Nestling repair, and to the thicket some ; Offers its kind concealment to a few, Their food its insects, and its moss their nests. Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave. Whose murmurs soothe them all the live-long day, Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream, And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought But restless hurry through the busy air, Beat by unnumber'd wings. The swallow sweeps Spring, 1. 638-657. |