friend of man, and, with the stork and the ibis, may be regarded as a sacred bird. His instinct, which gives him his appointed season, and which teaches him always when and where to move, may be regarded as flowing from a divine source; and he belongs to the oracles of nature, which speak the awful and intelligible language of a present Deity."*

It would not be difficult to collect many testimonies in favour of these light-winged visiters. "The swallow," says an accurate observer, "is a companion of man, and one of the most vigilant videttes for the safety of the feathered race. No sooner does a hawk, or other bird or beast of prey, come in view, than he raises his shrill note of alarm, chee chee; and whilst almost all other birds, pigeons, poultry, &c. fly or run to covert, the dauntless swallow mounts aloft to meet the foe, menacing and attacking with fury, till he drives the intruder from the neighbourhood. In this attack, the crow only has the courage to assist. I have often noticed that the swallows, on returning from the pursuit, unite in a song of gratulatory exultation. Gnats are the favourite food of the swallow. In this respect it may be considered the friend

* Salmonia, p. 79.

of man; not only in tropical countries, but in every place it visits."*

We have now given a cursory glance at most of the smaller summer birds which visit us; there are yet two or three others, each belonging to a distinct family, and worthy our attention from the singularity of their habits and

notes.

The WRYNECK is one of these, distinguished by the beauty of its plumage, which, at first sight, almost resembles that of the woodcook, though our bird is scarcely the size of a lark. It is chiefly seen on the boughs and trunks of decayed trees, and gains its name from a singular mode of turning its head over its shoulder, alternately; still better, it is named emmet-hunter, as it lives almost entirely on ants. "A quantity of mould, with emmets and their eggs, were given it; and it was curious to observe the tongue darted forward, and retracted, with such velocity, and with unerring aim, that it never returned without an ant or an egg adhering to it; not transfixed by the horny point, but retained by a tenacious moisture, provided by nature for that purpose." It makes a singular noise, a sort

* Main, Mag. of Nat. Hist., No. xxi.

+ Montagu.

of bleating, like some small hawks in the spring; and we have often, formerly, listened to it with surprise, wondering whence that sound could proceed.

In Gloucestershire this bird is called the cuckoo's maid, being supposed to attend the cuckoo. Mr. White says, "these birds appear on the grass plots and walks; they walk a little as well as hop, and thrust their bills into the turf, in quest, I conclude, of ants: while they hold their bills in the grass, they draw out their prey with their tongues, which are so long as to be coiled round their heads."*

The RING OUZEL, nearly resembling the common blackbird, but with a white ring round his neck, visits some of our mountainous heaths to make his nest; but being of rare occurrence, and a local bird, we will not notice him farther. Mr. White gives an account of his discovery of these birds in Hampshire, in October; and we have seen them near the Isle of Thanet, in Kent, in the same month, probably on their return southward after rearing their young. They are said to breed on Dartmoor, and in the Peak in Derbyshire; and we have observed them among the heath on the Welch mountains in July. Sir W. Jardine says, "Before mi

* Selborne.

grating to their winter quarters, they leave their mountainous haunts and descend to the nearest gardens: where they commit numerous depredations, and are known to the country people under the title of mountain blackbirds.' We have not often met with them, but, as old Walton says, we hope our honest reader may, and have good amusement therewith.""

6

There are two insect-eating birds, both, of course, summer visiters; and which, though larger than any we have noticed, yet, as they are not unfrequently seen and heard about our woods and shrubberies, must not be altogether forgotten. One of these feeds in the day, the other earns his subsistence in the twilight and the night.

The well known "plain song Cuckoo grey" comes to us in April, deposits its egg in the nest of some other bird, and leaves us in the autumn. It generally chooses the hedge sparrow, water wagtail, or titlark, as the foster mother of its young. The young cuckoo (like many other intruders) acts with great ingratitude towards its benefactors, by ejecting the rightful heirs from bed and board, and devouring their substance. Mr. Montagu gives an entertaining account of this process.* The egg of the

* Mr. Montagu witnessed a young cuckoo throw out a young swallow, which was placed in the nest as an expe

cuckoo is smaller in proportion to the size of the bird than most others, which prevents the great disparity which would otherwise appear when it is placed in the nest of the little dupes who hatch it; and there are no insect-eating birds of the same size in whose nest it could be deposited. Mr. White gives a very amusing account of the fierceness of a young cuckoo which he found in the nest of a titlark, "who pursued his finger, as it was teased, many feet from the nest, sparring and buffeting with its

riment, the foster nestlings (hedge sparrows) having before been ousted. "This singular action was performed by insinuating itself under the swallow, and with its rump forcing it out of the nest with a sort of jerk." — Montagu's "Ornithological Dictionary," and also Dr. Jenner's "History of the Cuckoo," and Rennie's "Architecture of Birds."